Obsession: A Xelloss Story
by Kaeru Shisho
Summary: Xelloss tells us about his meeting, courtship, and final outcome with the object of his obsession, covering the first three seasons of the animemanga and then beyond. This week, conclusion. Thank you all for reading this.
1. Part 1

**Obsession: A Xelloss story**

Disclaimer: We do not own the Slayers characters or their anime or manga stories, but are borrowing them for the purpose of creating an amusing work of fan fiction. Additionally, we admit to sampling generously and directly from a book called The Pleasure of My Company, by Steve Martin. On reading this book, we could envision Xelloss thinking along the same unusual lines as the main character of Martin's story, and soon Xelloss had insinuated himself into the entire text. The story is a result of an intermixing of the Slayers myth with this book in an effort to explain Xelloss' role in Lina's life.

Authors' warning: Xelloss will be re-telling his role throughout the Next and Try series. However, there will be differences, a few minor infractions along the way, to fit our purposes better. Please forgive and enjoy.

Authors' note: Thanks go to the Prime Minister for the wonderful beta reading while rat prepared for finals. Without that added support, this wouldn't have been completed.

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**– Part 1–**

At first it was merely puzzling: Gourry, the man who carried the legendary Sword of Light, was a moron, and what was even more incredible was that Miss Lina Inverse seemed to like the man. I couldn't comprehend why. She didn't need his fighting skills, not even when I first started following her exploits and she wasn't the accomplished sorceress that she is today.

_Why did she keep company with the tall swordsman? _Certainly not for his profound conversation. He dozed off during most of her lengthy lectures or appeared stupefied by her magic discussions (which turned into monologues when it was only between the two of them.) He had no wealth, property, or name. Maybe it was just the sword? Well, I could deliberately take it away from him and solve that dilemma.

I considered it too easy, beneath me in fact, to go out of my way to demonstrate to Lina his incompetence. However, I remember dangling him from a foot briefly after saving his worthless life before I dropped him on his head from a height sufficient to make him look ridiculous but not enough to harm him– his head being his least important organ. Still, the object of my obsession (and yes, I admit to this weakness, grudgingly) seemed to be attracted to the man.

The swordsman, I was certain, was in love with her. Alternatively, I was sure that she was not in love with him. Love she reserved for shiny objects and sustenance. So far.

I point out that she was a young lady, innocent of the perils of love. Her mind uncomplicated by such things. So far.

I can say for a fact that the only intercourse Lina had engaged in was the conversational variety. So far.

I planned to change all that from the moment my eyes first caught sight of her.

But, I am getting ahead of myself here. I should start with the origin of my deep set fixation on Miss Lina Inverse, sorceress _extraordinaire_. Meeting Lina was a thing of chance. The demon lord to whom I was reporting at the time sent me on an errand; at least, that had been his intent. Actually, it was some other demon priest who was entitled to the short vacation. The hapless drudge who delivered the instructions mixed us up– one astral form looking like any other, if you're blind, deaf, and trussed like a holiday bird ready for roasting (which that particular half-wit underling suffered for his mistake.) As it turned out, though, this clerical error changed my plans for a while and left me with a few idle hours I hadn't counted on.

Ripples of despair and pain disrupted the astral plane. _What a pleasure! _It had a magical aftertaste that pleased me mightily. I have a highly honed appreciation for things like that, in particular, a delicate discrimination for the finer things in life, as I perceive them.

A quick subliminal scan pin-pointed the source of the disturbance: a human female. _How intriguing! _In a blink of the eye, I transported my corporal self to the scene of destruction. It was vast, complete, and totally unnecessary. By Shabranigdo himself, I was impressed! The inn keeper professed simply to be out of his specialty food item, and now a smoking divot was all that remained of his establishment and all the souls inhabited within. And Lina.

I saw Lina for the first time that day. She didn't see me, though. We hadn't met yet, but that didn't mean we weren't, in some abstract place, already _in love_. I certainly was. Not that I considered myself _in love_ at the time. I was just spellbound from that moment on.

My next move, I decided, was to ingratiate myself into her subculture. Now, this was something I was proficient at doing, having had hundreds of years to practice. Humans were so easily fooled. Or was it that I was such an accomplished covert operative? Both, I'd say.

But this was going to be different. Lina was different. She made my head spin, my concentration waver, and my complacency, well, go away, let's just say. I became plagued by a nagging sting of self-doubt.

_How should I conduct myself around Miss Lina? _I pondered this question, filled with agitation.

_I must begin by showing her my strengths_, I decided firmly, hoping that my status as a bloodthirsty demon would enhance my first meeting with Lina. She did like action, danger and excitement, or at least she sought it out. Indeed, the more I considered that plan of action, the more sure I became that it would be the right tactic.

_Why, it could jazz things up a bit! _Maybe too much. She appeared to be highly temperamental and suspicious, and although she seemed willing to kill humans and non-humans alike without trepidation, she would probably not like to hang out with a demon, socially. Best not point out what was not obvious, then.

I_ should make a timely entrance, save her from an attack, and, of course, in the same breath I will tell her that I am a trustworthy priest, but_ _I'll wait just that extra second before I do in order to make sure I've enchanted her. _There, that sounded better, **felt** better through and through.

_Whew! That was a close one! _A demon without complete self-confidence was vulnerable to attack, possibly death.

So, I decided to just be myself, while at the same time not give myself away. A tricky maneuver, to be sure, but I was the Trickster Priest, and as such was untroubled by the challenge.

The larger issue was the idea of acting like myself. _Where do my hands go when I'm myself? Are they in my pockets? _Because frankly, I couldn't remember. I had a tough time just _being _myself when I'd be doing my job. I would start talking to some lesser demon and suddenly I would know I was no longer myself that some other self had taken over. You see, I was both an arrogant, homicidal bastard and an annoying, fun-loving trickster. What was more, and better, for me, was that I was empowered as both my master's priest and general. Twice the punch. See? Something for everyone.

_Lina's going to love me, _I thought. Oh, I was positive of that.

This thought process had taken several days, or weeks, I wasn't counting. You see, the less active the body, the more active the mind. I had been sitting for days, taking my mistaken time off and my mind made this curious excursion into a tangential problem: _What would be the best way to stir up some trouble in that white magic capital of the world, Seyruun?_

No, not that, that would have been presumptive of me, second-guessing my superior's next move. Most likely, I was addressing the anomaly of my mismatched socks. _Why?_ They had both been yellow the other day and I hadn't changed them, _had I? I mean, how could I? Were not my socks merely a part of my illusionary self? _Nevertheless, one was dark red now and no amount of pondering was going to change that.

So here's my point. This question I've been flipping around – what it means to act like myself– is related to my mismatched socks. I was not myself, and the socks proved it. I was not thinking straight or even coherently. And, thinking too much can create the illusion of causal connections between unrelated events. Like socks and Lina. After observing Lina and her magical display, I have one red sock and one yellow one. That was clear and observable.

_Oh gods, Lina was so cute and what a sorceress!_ – Just an aside to give you a taste of what I was going through.

It was time to arrange a formal meeting. I thought I might begin with a letter of introduction. I would write to Lina about myself. Now, how to present myself as your average, nonthreatening human being while simultaneously make myself likeable without lying? I thought it best not to begin our relationship with lies. Cheap **and** tawdry.

I think I'm pretty appealing on first meeting, but trust takes time and more than a single piece of paper to achieve. See, I tend to grow on people. I needed a few years and a ream or two of paper to get someone to truly trust me. I know how to flatter, overdo, and lay it on thick in order to speed up my likeability time frame, but that wouldn't resolve the trust issue. For someone to trust you, you had to provide them honest answers, and consciousness-raising was not my forte. I was a tightlipped fellow about to reveal my soul, so to speak. So, I tried to compact how I felt, part with a few underlying truths about myself, regale her with flattery, and wrap it up in an air of mystery. Oh, I would not like the sniveling, romantic me who wrote my single page letter of introduction, but I hoped she would.

Time to make a personal mail delivery, then. She had an aura like no other, so I had no trouble locating Miss Lina. By this time she had acquired a sidekick swordsman. Adding an unwelcome human to the mix was not what I had wanted. In my anger and haste to get moving on my plan to entice Miss Lina, I nearly fried the man on the spot. But then, just in the nick of time, I considered Lina's feelings and the mixed message that would have sent. Fleeting human relationships often confused me, since demons employed different ones, but I was aware that if I rashly killed her friend, I would instantly become her enemy. So I wisely held back to see what their relationship really entailed. It was dark as pitch, but they were each easily identifiable by their arguing.

"I'm not like them," Lina insisted. Her toe nudged a hunk of wood closer to the fire.

"But you stole their stuff," Gourry insisted back. "That makes you a bandit too."

"But it wasn't their stuff in the first place."

"That makes you...the rightful owner?" he asked. He poked at the coals, inflaming them as well.

"Well, almost." Lina repeated her claim. "But I'm **no** bandit."

"I dunno, Lina..."

I couldn't wrap my head around the idea either– I agreed with the human-carrying-the-dreadful Sword-of-Light. Blowing up bandit camps to rob them of their treasure sounded violently wonderful to me, but it didn't justify her keeping the ill-gotten gains. Not that it troubled me. She could keep them on the grounds of 'finder's keepers' for all I cared.

"Well, I'm bushed and we gotta big day tomorrow, so I'm goin' to sleep. 'Night!"

"Okay, Lina. Guess I oughtta take first watch, then," the man answered her unnecessarily, for Lina was out like a light.

Oh well, my introductory letter could wait for a more opportune time. And I have to admit, I did check my socks, twice, for another color change, but it didn't happen this time. Perhaps my earlier assessment was wrong and Lina and my mismatched sock occurrence were unrelated after all. Or maybe it didn't work with the other man around...

The next day I tagged along unbeknownst to them. They were entertaining and Lina was delicious.

"It's supposed to be here," Lina growled and pointed to a mark on a map. "I paid good money for this."

"I don't see signs of an old shrine anywhere. Maybe we made a wrong turn," the strangely insightful swordsman recognized. "Here, let me take another look. Yep, back at that last big rock. Wrong rock."

"Wrong rock? What do you mean?" Lina's voice ratcheted up a notch or two.

_Ooooh, how I loved the hot, angry vibes I was tasting off her!_

"This one. Lookee here, it's not a rock. It's a dirt mark. See? Wiped it off," the dumb lug told her.

"Not...a...rock? We wasted the whole day...? Arrrrrgh!"

I chose not to descend upon them and disrupt their anguished dismay. It seemed as though adversities like that were always befalling Lina, so I put off meeting her a little longer and settled back into my more distant relationship based on constant observation.

Sometimes when Lina would be telling a story I noticed that she would pause and stare off into the distance, then start right back up where she'd left off. Sure, you might think that she was simply taking a moment to collect her thoughts. But I saw it another way: her mind was being overwhelmed by two processes that must simultaneously proceed at full steam. One was to deal with and live in the present world. The other was to re-experience everything in the magical astral plane. It was as though her lightness pulled her toward heaven, but the extra gravity of her powerful magical ability forever kept her earthbound.

_Or was it that I thought too much?_

I didn't know if I wanted to approach Lina until the me-as-a-priest-presentation-thing was worked out. I really wanted to act the part as well as look harmless, which meant I'd have to lose the demon-general line of employment. My racial makeup and class were something for a maturing relationship, not the very beginning when first impressions are critical. No, my priestly occupation would be nice to drop over drinks on our third date. If I got the feeling there might not be a third date, I'd have no qualms about moving it up to the second date, or even blurting it out on our first date right after 'hello.' I mean, she'd visited countless shrines looking for action, treasure action naturally, so having a priest along could afford her ready access, or so I hoped she might see it that way and find me essential to her life. In any case, I decided to dress in my best priestly garb and pay my Miss Lina another visit.

They stood and chatted by the bar, she and her brainless swordsman. This was my opportunity to meet my _object d'amour_, or at least give her the chance to see me, to get used to me. My plan was to walk by on my side of the dining room and not look over her way. This, I felt, was a very masculine move: to meet and ultimately seduce her **through no contact at all**. She would be made aware of me as a mysterious figure, someone with no need of her whatsoever. This is compelling to a woman.

When I hit the material world from the astral, I encountered a problem. I had forgotten to wear underwear. While I may have cut an aloof figure, I was an aloof figure who was going to be chafing against all wool-pants for the evening. I moved stiffly, without my usual confident swagger and easy manner, veering my way to the bar so as to cover the distance with the least amount of leg-action effort.

To my dismay, Lina and her sword-mate were facing my way and looking comfortable in their non-restrictive travel-wear. I was probably dangerous-looking. Not the impression I wanted make at all. Still, as freakish as I may have appeared, I had established contact. Of that I was sure. And I doubt that her brief distorted impression of me was so indelible that it could not, at some point, be erased and replaced with a better me.

Which leads me to the subject of charisma. _Wouldn't we all like to know the extent of our own magnetism? _I can't say my charm was at full throttle when I strolled, stork-like, by Lina, but **had** I been at the other end of the room, so that I was walking languidly through the haze with the lights behind me, at my best angle, and relaxed and perhaps in dusky silhouette, my own charisma would have swirled out of me like smoke from a hookah.

_Or was I thinking of my aura? _

Alas, my charisma had yet to fully bloom around the object of my obsession. It was as though something was keeping me back from it. Perhaps apprehension:_ What would happen to me and to those around me if I were suddenly just **too sensational **to be managed? _

Ah, well... I had no answer to that and so chose to overlook the problem for the time being and commit a little mischief. When you see an opportunity for fun, you would be remiss not to take it for a ride, I say. With a snap of effort on my part, I spun a very minor spell which dispensed with everyone else's underwear. Now we'd all suffer equally.

In order not to break out into uncontrollable laughter, I had to disappear. That wouldn't have been a good thing to do; it would have given away my secret powers– blown my cover, so to speak. I just crack myself up sometimes! Maybe my obsessions with mischief-making are there to keep me from being too powerfully alluring, to keep my would-be lovers and adventures in check. After all, I can't be too seductive if I have to spend a half hour explaining just why a prank I had pulled was hysterically funny in a woman's apartment while she sits on the edge of the bed checking her watch.

I concluded that Lina could not have possibly seen so much of me to have any sense of who I was, or to have spoiled the entire evening, so I reappeared out of the shadows and tried again. On my second interaction with Lina, I said something exquisite: "I'm always looking to upgrade." I muttered this casually in passing as I sauntered off. The wrong way, I might add. I hit a glass wall with a sickening, brain-numbing thud.

This was odd because I am not usually so klutzy. Never, really. _It must be love_, I concluded irrationally.

"What was that?" her sidekick asked.

"I dunno, some bozo with too much to drink," Lina-dearest offered up.

"But he said something to ya."

"Something about a room upgrade."

"Oh, I get it!" the swordsman glowed errantly, because he of course did not. "He thought you were a waitress here. I can't figure why, 'cause all of them are wearing those low cut blouses and have big boobs and you don't..."

Lina, my heart, cut him off with a well-placed kick, stepped over me, and stalked off to what I assumed to be her upstairs room. That was the last I saw of her that night.

My third contact with Lina, which occurred a few weeks later, was a total failure, with an explanation. I was pounding to a pulp some poor slob, proving my devotion to my race's objectives, when Lina and a couple of new friends marched up. Nothing could have seemed more casual, more unplanned, than my priestly presence in front of the Tidy Shrine. Still some ways off, she stretched herself to her full, petite size, all legs and hair, and gave me a jaunty wave. I think she was about to speak to me. The problem was: I was a bloody mess. I was looking pretty suspicious for a priest. This couldn't have made Lina too comfortable, particularly if she'd had any inclination toward viewing me as her next beau.

So, I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances. I stepped back into the doorway and disappeared, taking my tortured captive away. No reason to leave evidence. From the astral plane I sensed Lina's disappointment upon reaching the shrine and finding no priestly caretaker, and then her surge of exultation at discovering the same piece of information.

"I think the place is empty, Lina."

"Ah, nuts! **Now** how are we gonna get that, ah...?" Lina paused, smiled demonically (sigh), and then blasted the lock of the door in a flash of energy. "Hey! Come on, Gourry, help me look for that Claire Bible that's supposed to be locked away in here, then we'll go celebrate, okay?"

"Okay, Lina, but I thought we were just looking for directions to that old ruin. Now what am I looking for?"

She let out a sigh, "A book Gourry. Without a guard to stop us, we can steal their copy of the Claire Bible, a book."

At least I knew that I had lent my lady-love a great service, clearing the way to something far more valuable than what she was looking for. Yes, the more powerful Miss Lina becomes the more destruction she spreads, and with destruction comes despair and anger. _She's irresistible! _

Sadly, I would have to take her treasure away from her shortly. Those Claire Bibles were the source of powerful spells to damage demons, and I shouldn't allow her to get a hold of those through negligence on my part. I giveth and I taketh away. But I had learned an important secret to controlling her: she was hunting for copies of the Claire Bible, and I knew where a few were, or were reputed to be or could possibly, maybe, on a chance could be.

I am always amazed at what lies buried in the mind until one day for no particular reason it rises up and makes itself known. That night whilst perched on a tree limb outside Lina's inn window, a vision of Lina's face entered my consciousness, and I saw that she had ruby-red colored eyes. It was a small fact I hadn't realized I knew.

I was recalled about this time to Wolfpack Island, home to another dark lord, the Lord Beastmaster Zelas. To be more precise, it was around this time the clerical error was discovered and my unintentional leave of absence came to a screeching halt. Lord Zelas was my creator and ultimate employer, but she was happy to loan me out these days rather than come up with any constructive service for me to perform, save feeding her wolves. Naturally, now that I had found something fun to consume my time, energy, and talents, Lord Zelas had numerous duties for me to discharge.

I lost track of the date, a common occurrence among us immortals, so that by the time I was able to locate and spy on her, Lina had accumulated a following and a new enemy, Rezo the Red Priest. It was then that she and the chimera went after Rezo-Shabranigdo, a.k.a. my boss's boss and ultimate lord and master, and I steered far away. I was ordered to stay out of Rezo's business. And to make sure that I did, I was put to feeding my master's wolves when Lina ultimately defeated Rezo. Yes, it was very fortunate that I wasn't following Lina at the time; otherwise I would have had to kill her to stop her. I wouldn't have liked that.

It wasn't long before Lord Zelas was fresh out of good ideas or even bad ideas or tasks to occupy my time, so she announced that she was to lend me to her peer, Hellmaster Phibrizzo. Lord Hellmaster Phibrizzo was a demon lord who had lost all his servants more than 1000 years ago so he was always begging the other demon lords for assistance. He was also impulsive with an over-zealous 'Gaav' complex bordering on psychosis, who now absolutely _required_ my special services. I was _essential_ to his success. It is like that for those of us who excel naturally, and me in particular.

As a parting gift, the Lord Beastmaster gave me a set of spell-amplifying amulets to make use of as I saw fit. I thanked her graciously wondering why in the seven hells she thought that I might need the flashy jewelry, and took my leave to one of those seven hells in search of its master.

First, Lord Phibrizzo asked what I currently had on my plate. I told him 'not much'(while curious what he was thinking about my new ruby encrusted adornments– I mean, did they scream 'Xelloss is still mine, the Lord Beastmaster Zelas, and don't you forget it!?') but dutifully offered up a few suggestions. He liked my idea of me giving aid to Lina so that she would acquire the knowledge and strength to invoke the all-powerful Giga Slave spell of unpredictable consequences, but only as a sideline to his own selfish goals. "But can you work that in with the ongoing Demon Dragon Lord Gaav problem?"

"Of course, a two-for-one deal, eh?" I smiled and accepted the challenge, the most demanding part being not spraying my diminutive boss with my spittle as I exploded into cackles of mirth.

If Lina somehow pulled off a Giga Slave spell, which I was certain she was unable to at this point and would need direction to gain that expertise, then the end of our world would result, possibly. _Forget Gaav, Phibby! He's pigeon shit! This Lina is the Real Deal! _I didn't say that to his face. In fact, I didn't laugh either. I smiled and waited to be dismissed, like a loyal, life-loving (mine, naturally) demon employee.

"Okay, but I want Gaav at my feet first, the turncoat..." Lord Phibrizzo demanded.

"Turncoat in the greatcoat, got it," I quipped.

"Just go already." Lord Phibrizzo had a child's sense of wordplay. He never appreciated my finer points.

"As you wish, Sir." He did love kowtowing, on the other hand.

By this point, Miss Lina was still touring the country with her entourage of misfit magic users. I had to admit that my former plans to impress Lina had misfired like a bad spell. It was time to do the manly thing: to meet her without deception, without forethought. I decided to present myself as an out-of-work priest and minor sorcerer looking for adventure. This seemed to be the honest thing to do.

We met inauspiciously in the remains of one of Lina's destructive ruins. I was certain that she did not recognize me from our earlier, unfortunate encounters, and we were off to a fresh start.

"So, if you're a priest," the dummy sidekick swordsman asked me. "Where's yer shrine?"

"Ah...it was destroyed. Completely. Washed away in a flood." _Now shut up, go to sleep, and let me have Lina to myself, you idiot._

"Oh, that's too bad. There's one in this town, why don'tcha join them?"

"Wrong, ah, affiliation." I hoped the use of large words would confuse him.

"Really? Which one are you?"

"Which?" I hadn't a clue what to say to that.

"'Course," the blonde swordsman went on, "maybe you can do somethin' else? Ya don't look much like a farmer or a fighter."

"What?!" I had just been insulted. My manhood was on the line here, and I wasn't even a hu-man. "I can fight quite well. I have quite a few spells under my belt."

"Have you ever considered using this ability in a job? Then you wouldn't haveta keep followin' us around."

I was taken aback. _Where did this lamebrain come up with material like that? __Did he in fact recognize me from my other earlier, failed encounters? Worse than that, did Lina? _I was afraid that he had seen right through my facade. "I have... but I haven't come up with anything yet," I mumbled, feeling like I was losing to a moron. _What did that make me, then?_

"Oh, I get it. Don't you have any friends?"

I could feel Lina's attention on me. I had to turn this conversation around to favor me, "Oh, yes, I do. We work out together, my er...friends and I." This was, of course, a lie, but it was the kind of lie that could become true at any moment, as I potentially could work out if I chose. If I wasn't sure whether Lina recognized me, I was sure Lina had never seen this masculine side of me before, which must have sent a chill through her.

"I'm getting cold," Lina stated with finality. "You guys can sit up and talk. I'm gonna go soak in the hot springs and have some fun."

Of course, it may have been the rapid temperature drop. Well, I may not have sent her into a swoon over me, but... she accepted my presence as a wandering priest.

After that, I led her on a few wild goose chases, had a bit of fun, until ... Oh, well, yes, I did step in and give Lina a little bit of help with destroying that Halciform guy. If I hadn't, my Lina might not have gotten away. One can't be too careful when other demons, this one a nasty creature I hadn't seen in a long time called Saygram, were involved. I told her to destroy the pledge stone that was behind the human sorcerer's power, but I couldn't go as far as pointing out where exactly it was. That would be turning on one of my own, and for all I knew, Saygram was working for the same demon lord I was. How would I know? No one was aware who I was reporting to lately. Anyway, Saygram was far weaker than I and so was unaware of my quick action and retreat. We demons are an unpredictable race from a human standpoint.

Oh, and I tried to offer Lina a few suggestions when she encountered a chaotic magic user by the name of Martina. There was one odd duck who was putting a crimp in my plans. She put a curse on Lina so as to interfere with Lina's use of magic. This was unacceptable. I needed Lina to use and explore her magic limits, not have them shut down! Funny, I found the situation to be both troubling and immensely amusing at the same time. After I determined that the curse was a weak one and that it would wear out soon anyway, I left the two ladies to sort out their social problems on their own. I should have simply killed Martina right there and then, had I known the headaches the perverse little woman would bring me later.

And then, how can I forget one other little incident? I covertly observed Lina and her comrades making their way toward Seyruun. I was curious as to what kind of ruckus would Lina stir up this time? They stopped at a restaurant. Nothing unusual about that, so I materialized at the threshold and found a table for one. The menu featured an enticing but wholly out of date and impossible listing of Dragon Cuisine delights. I knew my Lina would be dissatisfied and disappointed, which could lead to a plethora of bad feelings, and possibly violence.

And she did not disappoint me. None of them did. Before I had ordered my own meal, Lina had the _restaurateur_/fisherman in a headlock extracting his promise to catch her a dragon. Killing dragons was right up my alley! Nothing could be better, I challenge anyone to prove me wrong about that.

From my outpost in a tree, I had the perfect viewing position of their entire fishing-for-dragon fiasco– priceless, at any cost, and my seat was free. They failed repeatedly to outsmart the creature, which was a telling fact because non-sentient dragons were not nimble-minded beasts.

By evening they had failed to catch Lina's dinner, but were not ready to_ chuck up the sponge_, as they say in the country. They gathered around a campfire and listened to the fisherman's fish-tales. According to him, each one of the group resembled or at least reminded him of his own eccentric family. Even I took pity on his wife after hearing that the chimera made him think of her. Must have been a suicide... After that, I stopped listening. The stories were mildly entertaining, though with not enough sex and violence to hold me on the plane of existence.

To my wonderment, the next day they killed the beast and in the confluence of water and pandemonium, a gleaming amulet fell from the sky. My natural curiosity drew me off my roost and down to the forest floor, where I located what I thought was a pocket watch. The owner's name was etched on the case, so I knew it belonged to the restaurant owner. At that moment, Lina passed chattering excitedly with the dragon killer about the phenomenal dishes he was going to create for her. I stepped in behind them. I had to see this through to the end, didn't I?

Of course Lina was unhappy to learn that none of her favorite dishes could be prepared in fewer than several weeks. Nasty, nasty poisonous dragons... Her reactions were as I had hoped, and I feasted well that day until she turned on a heel and left in a huff. If she was going to apply her Dragon Slave spell to the establishment, I should leave as well.

Then I remembered the pocket watch in my pouch. Inquisitive by nature, I released the latch to take a look at its contents. I decided that if it wasn't valuable I'd return it. Inside was not a watch face, though. It was a family portrait, and damn if the dragon-killer hadn't been right. Lina and her gang were dead ringers for the dead people.

How quaint! It was a keepsake locket, which would be useless to me, so I left the man his memories, and then left the premises intending to create a few new ones for myself.

Or I was about to. I hadn't forgotten my orders, but I was close to neglecting them, so I left my little band of trouble-makers to wend their way to Seyruun, and went in search of The Demon Dragon King next. In my stead, I commanded a pair of my best servants to insinuate themselves into the Palace of Seyruun as a pair of sorcerers. One of Lina's friends was the princess of Seyruun, so I knew that Lina would end up there. I needed my contacts to spy on Lina and keep me informed of any change of events while I conducted my own work. I couldn't be everywhere at once!

Secure in the knowledge that Lina was in good hands, I was able to concentrate on Demon Dragon King Gaav, a defector from the Demon league of cutthroats, sealed up in human form, which must have galled him into hiding out. No one knew at the time that he was setting up shop on his own in the Desert of Desolation. That I was to discover a few weeks later.

My mind's driving preoccupation with Lina, however, constantly drew me toward her. Ah...my dear Lina. Her future held so many possibilities. I had concluded that for Lina to succeed in the goal (okay, for her to succeed in _either_ goal, work-related or personal) I had set for her, my role would have to become more active. She needed training, guidance, and opportunities to develop under the tutelage of an older, more experienced man, which was me. I needed to make certain of her well-being personally, not to mention that I really would have preferred to hang out with Lina sampling ice cream in Seyruun than sift through the countless sand dunes pondering Lord Gaav's whereabouts.

So my agitation built up until, at one point, when I could overlook the urge to locate Lina no longer, I attempted to contact my two minions for an update. Failing to get my demon underlings to respond to my call, I became uneasy. I scanned the astral plane and detected a nasty convolution, a maelstrom of bad vibrations emanating from the direction of Seyruun. There was nothing more to do than abandon my desert search for a turn at that ice cream in Seyruun, and Miss Lina.

End part one.


	2. Part 2

**Obsession: A Xelloss story**

From part 1...

At one point, when I could overlook the urge to locate Lina no longer, I attempted to contact my two minions for an update. Failing to get my demon underlings to respond to my call, I became uneasy. I scanned the astral plain, detected a nasty convolution, and abandoned my desert search for a turn at that ice cream in Seyruun, and Miss Lina.

– **Part 2–**

Mazenda and her symbiote Kanzel... how could they be at the root of all my problems? They were the best subordinates I had at the time. I couldn't watch Lina every moment, so some time ago I had sent them ahead to the Seyruun Capital to apprise me of her well-being and her development of any new, powerful spells. That was what they were supposed to do, but did they obey me? Hard to believe, but no. Kanzel had his own 'rule the world' agenda, and had sold out to Gaav (although I wasn't to learn that particular piece of information for some time.) Mazenda, guessing the depth of my obsession with Miss Lina, saw her as a potential competitor for my attentions. I point out that had no idea the demon woman felt that way towards me, which was unfortunate, because had I known, I would have punished her long before that!

As a result, as well as taking over the Seyruun throne, Kanzel and Mazenda also sought to destroy Lina's usefulness. Mazenda's first action was to seal Lina's powers, making her vulnerable to attack and ineffective in my cause. I realized immediately that she stole that idea from Martina. Obviously, I shouldn't have shared that story with Mazenda earlier, but I was trying to establish a sly, conspiratorial working-relationship. I won't do that again.

Consider this: how was I going to get Lina to destroy the world without her magical powers?

Mazenda would have to be dealt with (as in 'killed') eventually, but first, I dropped the Gaav search to locate my dear Miss Lina. Alas, I encountered the aforementioned Martina woman and **not** Lina crouched before a few bandits in a dark alley. Why was I confusing Martina with Lina? I determined that she must have stolen something magical of Lina's in their last encounter and was still hiding it on her person while Lina was nearly powerless. For that outrage, I considered killing the woman instantly myself rather than let the bandits have all the fun. Events took a different turn when she flung herself in my arms, practically begging me to take her, or maybe just take her away.

I did both.

I have to say, Martina was pretty hot in the sack. In addition to the sex, I did find the stolen article of Lina's, one of her black headbands, tied around Martina's ankle. I magically removed and pocketed it for safekeeping. Now a part of Lina lay nestled against my heart.

I felt that I could do with a little action, and so rather than break up the current amusement with Martina to go in search of Lina, I conjured up a few associates of mine, under threat of their lives should they fail me, and sent them to Seyruun. Yes, Lina should come to me and let me impress her with my knowledge of the area and her cure. My lackeys would simply pass the word to Lina that a cure for her locked magic abilities was to be found at Mount Rune, where coincidentally I was staying with Martina.

This worked.

Lina arrived in town subdued and alone. All alone. Where was her dull-witted protector? I assumed he was already gone or in the process of being gone. And her other friends? They were friends, weren't they? No matter. She had come at the appointed place and unaccompanied was even better. I was unfortunately engaged in this sleazy liaison with the other young lady. And while Martina afforded me some disguise and mental distraction, Lina only was in the forefront of my mind. And once Lina entered my field of vision, Lina became my sole interest once again. I dropped the Martina like a badly mixed drink which had gone flat.

I sensed her approach. Lina was savoring a quiet moment of solicitude. She liked that occasionally. I knew that. I knew more about Lina than she knew about me, since I had never allowed her to penetrate beyond my habits, _which of course was the point of their existence. _

This presented to me the first occasion I'd had to spend quality time with Lina. Before, she'd either been too close up or too far away. Her efforts in the area of presentation made me admire her more. Lina was a prime object. Oh, I'm not talking about her figure or make up; those were not her main attractions. She had picked up magical spells from everywhere; she had assembled herself from the best incantations sorcerers had to offer. Any man she chose to be with would be envied. A man who built an empire would certainly need Lina Inverse by his side; he would need her, and if he was me, then he would deserve her. But first I had to get those powers back for her.

Lina looked directly at me and asked, "Haven't seen you all week. How's it been?"

I was having a good week, though I couldn't really tell her why. At least, not without her thinking I was obsessed with women; one being her and the other being the irksome, tiresome woman named Martina still sharing my table. I rarely attached myself to humans, but this one was a weak personification of chaos who served to give me a 'he's a normal, innocuous man' look. So, I lied and said...well, I don't remember what I said, but then I asked her how she was.

"FINE."

But I could tell she wasn't fine at all. I could tell because my mind had the ability to break down moments the way it could break down opponents. I could cut a moment into quarters, then eighths, then sixteenths, then...well you get the gist. And I was able to analyze whether one bit of behavior truly followed another and note that it seldom did when a person is disturbed or influenced by a hidden psychic flow.

But as this submoment broke down into even more submoments, it was clear that Lina was not 'fine'. She grieved. Pain, annoyance, and embarrassment shot through her like an electric current, powering me delightfully. At the same time it saddened me. Lina was suffering, unable to use her magic. I said, "Lina, you're a desirable girl; just sit quietly and you will resurrect." Except...that I didn't say it. I only thought it.

"Is Martina your girlfriend?" Lina asked boldly.

"Yes, I am," answered my possessive little arm decoration.

"No," I said decisively.

Lina's eyes narrowed dangerously, "Are you lying?"

"No." I mean, I _was_... but not any more. From now on I was going to tell Lina the truth.

I discovered that mixing work with pleasure was complicated. Establishing a liaison with the object of Earth's destruction was hard enough without everyone, including my boss, having these high expectations for her, and me. As long as I remained on the astral plane, my relationship to Lina was flawless. I was able to provide for her, to tease out a smile from her, and to keep her supplied with magical toys to amuse her. But I knew that during the day, in life, I could not even cross the road to her without an elaborate alignment of permitting circumstances. The truth was, I didn't have much to offer Lina.

I came to that conclusion as I contemplated my current situation and that 'get to know me' letter, which I never sent because no matter how much I approached it, how I rewrote it, I always sounded like a stalker. "I have observed you from the astral plane..." "Your astral signature: 'red-hot, powerful black magic sorceress', amused me..." it all sounded too observant and creepy. Which made me ask myself whether I actually _was_ too observant and creepy, but the answer came up no, because in no way can a demon of my stature _ever_ be too observant and creepy. That line of thinking was pleasant.

Lina, however, was waiting for me to say something. That was when I cheerfully offered to accompany Miss Lina to the magic user where she might secure a cure for her problems. I intended to lose the Martina woman, whom I had completely forgotten about, before making the trip but naturally the prickly cocklebur stuck to us, to me.

We took a winding path up a hill to an isolated cottage where a retired shaman resided. I used the opportunity to impress Lina with my elusive charm and wit, without saying a thing. Very smooth. I gave off the illusion that I was a superb listener and a patient, sensitive kind of guy. She liked attractive men and money, and I was a master of deceit. I tried to appear richer than I was, but it was sad as I didn't have much to work with. Mostly I shined up my jewelry and smoothed down my hair. Nothing much seemed to impress her, though, as she only seemed to notice the details of my figure as they would appear on a stat sheet: height 5'10'', weight 140 lbs, hair shoulder-length, dark purple in color, neatly trimmed, eyes purple when visible.

It wasn't until I invoked a couple spells to disable another demon, and activated my over-the-top talismans, that I had her undivided attention and near-devotion. And, oh...Lina wanted the talismans badly, not me; a disappointing turn of events.

Let me reiterate: my purpose in luring Lina to this outpost was to study the curse Mazenda laid upon her, counteract it, and then give her a peek at a new spell in a copy of the Claire Bible I understood to be closeted away by the shaman. If more could develop along the lines of romance then so be it...but I was second to my jewelry. Having Martina hanging on my arm didn't help, either. It just didn't make the 'she's not my girlfriend' lie sound any more plausible. Of course, I didn't look too desperate for company, which was probably good. No woman wants a desperate man.

Here is what happened...

Mazenda had sealed Lina's powers, and since I had not yet discovered the anti-spell, it was up to me to give Miss Lina some way to protect herself. My first reaction was to seek out and murder Mazenda for disobeying me. That would have released the spell, but since upper management frowned on me murdering one of my own race, I had to take a deep breath and re-think the situation.

Well, as I said, with Lina's sharp eye for flashy trappings and bright, shiny objects, my flamboyant, ornate gold and ruby jewelry had not gone unnoticed, but then things got more complicated. Zazan 'needed' to kill Lina, or so he said. Zazan was Mazenda's sole underling to command, and since she reported to me, albeit not very dutifully, he and I recognized one another. I shouldn't have gotten involved, but Lina without her magic powers was no match for Zazan, and when it came to taking sides, it was no contest. Lina was more important to me than some inferior subordinate to a defiant member of my staff.

The moment the demon executed a volley of attacks, I stepped in to shield Lina from certain mortal wounds. Naturally, Zazan didn't want to attack **me** so he shouted out what might have been a warning, but he nearly blew my cover. I was not ready to reveal my true identity (_I'm just a priest with these magical amplifiers, you can trust me_,) so I activated the talismans and used a minor spell any average sorcerer could use to knock a demon unconscious.

Instead, I blew the creature away. Damn, I hadn't meant to do that! I was only protecting Lina! But since there no use dwelling on what couldn't be changed, I turned my attention to the problem of what to do next. The strength of the amplifiers from Lord Zelas truly impressed me. It impressed Lina too, as I mentioned before. Clearly, Lina without her powers was better off wearing the talismans than I.

I tried to worm out of letting her have the gifts from Lord Zelas, and although I meant for her to get them in the end, I didn't want her to think she was getting off easy, or that I was easy, or that I possibly wanted her to have them so as to cause her to become leery of them and bung the deal. Alas, I could also tell that Lina was suspect of my tremendous power, so I let her assessment of the talismans being the cause stand uncorrected.

"Oh, right, they are valuable power amplifiers," I ventured. "I paid a bundle for them." Then I nodded up and down as if to verify my own lie.

If I wasn't extremely careful, our magnetic poles would flop as Lina would recognize me as notorious and dangerous. So, I quickly conceded to her bargaining phenomena, practically giving her the priceless amplifiers without compensation, in order to throw her off her right-on-target intuition that I was more than I appeared to be and that the amplifiers were intended for her all along.

The Martina woman nearly ruined everything. Not only had she haggled with Lina over the amplifiers (losing), but the old shaman's Claire Bible was uncovered by that nuisance Martina instead! In order to tangle with Gaav in the future, or to simply stay alive long enough to work up to increasingly higher level spells, Lina needed to learn a new spell from the copy of the Claire Bible, but not too much more, a tough shielding spell for protection. I had planned to secret Lina away and hand over that one particular page of interest. That book was dangerous; humans couldn't be trusted with it, and I had to destroy it before either my dearest or the Martina wench learned too much.

Lina however beat me to the punch and wrangled the book away from Martina. Before I was aware of all she was doing, Lina had found and partially learned a spell called the Ragna Blade which was nearly as powerful as the Giga Slave, one that could kill high-order demons, with the right training. Not what I had had in mind at all. So, I destroyed the book before she could turn the page and learn the key to the Ragna Blade's use. As much as Lina had admired me before, she hated me for that now.

There was nothing that I could do about it, of course, but move on. At least I had the pleasure of knowing that armed with my Demon's Blood amulets, I was confident that Miss Lina would be able to move on to the next level of the game, my game. A consequence of Lina succeeding, of executing the Giga Slave correctly and unleashing the destructive power to destroy the world, meant that she would die, I would die, and although this was the aim of my race, I personally was having troubling thoughts. I wanted to love Lina first. A conundrum, to be sure.

Lina and Martina immediately returned to Seyruun, where I was proud to watch Lina artfully deploy her magic, blasting Seyruun right smartly along the way. The demon race has no love for the White Magic capital of the world; only its ice cream, and even then, only me. As it turned out, however, Kanzel revealed that he was actually in the employ of the Demon Dragon Lord Gaav and that he had instructions to kill Lina. So, I had to step in and restore order to the chaos they had caused. I had to destroy my minion Mazenda to free Lina from her spell, all the while making it appear that Lina had killed her instead. (I held the demon's astral form and corporal body in place and added a deadly enchantment to the Sword of Light as Lina drove it home.) With her power restored, I felt Lina should be able to use what she had learned of that terrible new Ragna Blade to take down Kanzel by herself.

Ah...see how chaos works for you? I hadn't meant for Lina to learn that spell, but how otherwise could she have used it to hone her skills and rid me of that back-stabbing Kanzel? Sure, now I'd be down two servants, but with help like them, who needs enemies? Plus, without Kanzel, wouldn't Gaav's attempted sabotage of my work be counteracted? Still, it wouldn't do to have Lina running about leaving dead demons in her wake. Wrong kind of chaos. It made her appear to be an enemy. I would have to find a few distractions to help Lina let off some steam without getting me into trouble.

While I was contemplating what those entertaining diversions might be, I saved the Prince of Seyruun, which I had to say worked wonders to rebuild my reputation in Lina's eyes...later on though, when she learned of it and had time for reflection. She was tied up with that Kanzel character at the time and missed my heroism. And I had to admit, watching them from afar, Kanzel, my man, had some good moves, most of which he'd learned from me.

As Prince Phil and I watched the fighting from a safe location, he asked, "Can they win without help?"

I assured him that Lina could, at least I hoped so because I didn't want to interfere any more than I already had or I might be in trouble with my superiors. Already, I had killed one of my kind (that would be Zazan) for Lina. I couldn't deny that, even if I might append to my admission an 'it was an accident' in my defense. I was pretty sure my role in Mazenda's death would go undetected, but should I continue to destroy creatures of my own race, Hellmaster would not be pleased. I know I keep repeating that, but it was a very important rule, plus... His punishments were awful, swift, and incontestable.

And Lina did not let me down.

Yes, I was now determined to find and turn over this Gaav character to Lord Hellmaster without delay. Maybe the Demon Lord Hellmaster wasn't as paranoid as I had previous thought. Had I taken care of his business and cleared out Gaav from the beginning, none of this mess would have occurred, maybe. Perhaps. But there was the case for Lina; she was growing stronger and if pushed far enough, she might defend her friends, and use that spell... Well, there was nothing left but to clean up the mess 'my' minions had made and move on. I retired to the astral plane to create a plan of action.

In spite of the gleaming burst of well-being that was generated by the idea of loving Lina, in the deeper hours of the night I began to look at myself, to consider myself and my condition, to measure the life I'd led so far. I didn't not know what made me this way. I did not know of any other way I could be. I did not know what was inside me or how I could redeem what was hidden there. There must be a key or person or thing, or song or poem or belief, or old saw that could access it, but they all seemed so far away, and after I drifted further and further into self-absorption, I closed the evening with this desolate thought: there are few human takers for the demon heart.

The next morning my newly applied diligence allowed me to locate the den of Lord Gaav. Great. I couldn't simply ask him to accompany me to hell now, could I? No, I would need help, and I was low on serviceable minions. Time to test Lina and that (shudder) Ragna Blade again, maybe even entice her into setting off the Giga Slave, blah, blah, blah... and end my torment once and for all.

I located Lina at a cabana outside a nice inn. She and her entourage of wastrels were relaxing and having fun. For some reason that really ticked me off. Here I was knocking myself out and she was having a good time, without me. Time to get even. Time to send Lina and her little band of troublemakers on a wild, disappointing goose chase. I manufactured a map to an old shrine ruin, and paid an underworld figure, known to cooperate with demons, to sell it to Lina, and then hid in the shadows.

Lina took the bait like a starving wolf cub. I watched her company march off to the empty, pointless ruin across the parched land, then settled into a comfortable chair with a tall cool one to wait them out a bit. Two pretty girls rushed to my side. _Why couldn't Lina do that?_ I was missing her already.

"What do you want?" I asked with a minimum of cordiality.

They wanted riches, too. Word gets around fast when money is changing hands. Their sing-songy voices chattered in a cacophony of noise, which gave me an idea. Oh, a very funny one. "Your voices are so lovely you should be singers. You could become rich by singing at places like this," I told them.

While the two girls worked themselves into a near frenzy over my suggestion, I worked out a brilliant scheme. "Listen, ladies, I have a proposition for you. If you promise to come back and sing for me (and especially if you don't,) I'll give you a map to the same shrine those others have gone to. Now, if you can find the box marked 'TREASURE' first, you can claim the contents, which includes a collection of the world's best lounge-singer tunes, guaranteeing your success in the industry."

Naturally they took the map. Next, I created a few artifacts, a chest, some clothes, a tune...and sent them all on ahead with a couple of weak, mindless drones to act as guards and set the stage for a fine performance. Smug with my achievement so far, I chanced a genuine smile. I needed only wait a few more minutes, and then...who but Martina should fall into the other chair at my table.

"Ditched the Inverse bitch, huh? Good. Buy me a drink and let's party," she demanded.

"Okay."

After a couple _more_ drinks, I felt that she was intoxicated enough not to notice being teleported to the ruins. To be sure, we started out walking, instantly re-located near the ruin, and then without missing a step, walked right up to the building. She didn't even blink an eye. Not until she saw Lina and the princess performing a silly love song in ridiculous clothes. Then she did a double take. Ah, the look of disillusionment on all their faces when the singing girls I'd sent informed them that it wasn't a magic spell they were performing, but a festival song for idol singers. No treasure! False lead! Hilarious!

I was laughing so hard I nearly missed the telltale words of Lina's Dragon Slave spell, but I caught on just in time to disappear to safety, taking Martina with me. She'd be good for a few more hours of fun anyway.

I felt a bit guilty later when Lina and her bedraggled friends dragged themselves into the inn that night. To lift Lina's spirits, I invited them all over to my table, pushing Martina into a dark corner, and ordered a round of drinks, on me. I could do 'magnanimous.' They hadn't blamed me for the bad map, and the princess hoped that I hadn't felt left out by their sudden departure without me. Her honest, open heart and outpouring of 'good' feelings put me off my feed. Before things got dull or out of hand again, I illuminated them with a story. I told a scary one based on a recent occurrence in the area.

Their reactions were so satisfying; wheels began to turn in my head. I wondered if my old friend Joe was still laying low in the tower? Ever since he took that wrong turn in life and that little girl ended up dead on his doorstep and not in Lord Beastmaster's trophy hall, the demon had been in hiding. I felt for the guy, lent him a hand smuggling him a servant or two, covering his tracks. His case was coming up in a few millennia and I would be there to put in a good word, but until then he was a demon in disgrace.

Still... Lina and her friends had never heard of him. This would be one of those wonderful fateful opportunities for Lina to let out some of that accumulating steam on a demon no one cared about! Perfect! I impressed myself. I can be amazing putting things together like that. Pulling strings... and with that thought, I formulated a complete plan.

"It's rumored that a copy of the Claire Bible is locked up in that tower," I told them. "It would be one explanation for his power." That was sure to lock in the chimera's interest.

Overhearing our conversation put ideas in the head of our innkeeper. I had noticed him filling a large box with carefully wrapped food and wondered at it, but now I realized that he was hoping to sell us a picnic to take along. I slipped him a few bills and told him to scram, transformed the contents to something more...**fun**, then allowed the chimera open the 'gift' and then...the look on his face. A bunny suit! I would see that dour dude in that suit before the day was done, I vowed.

While the girls cleaned up in the ladies facilities, I slipped over to Joe's place to warn him about company coming and set up the amusements. A few props, a great script, dim lighting, mood music...ready for the actors...and action!

Oh, I won't go into all the details. Suffice it to say, the pranks were hysterical, the magic fooled them all until Lina lost her sense of humor and tried attacking the puppet master, who she thought was Joe. The real Joe shocked me by assaulting Lina. For real! I picked Joe's pocket, rifled through his wallet and found one of Lord Gaav's calling cards. Drat! Not him again! Dang, that demon lord was really focused on Lina. Hadn't I made myself clear that she was **my** girl?

"Lina, attack the doll," I hinted.

And Joe went down with his tower courtesy of Lina's increasingly more powerful Dragon Slave. It was really well done. I was impressed by her exuberance and complete overkill, so to speak. I don't think I loved her more than at that moment. So overcome as I was, popped out of my plushie look and thanked Lina with a kiss. (I have absolute control over my outward appearance, the others were under an illusion spell to appear... soft and fuzzy!) Oh, just one on her cheek, but a kiss just the same. Our first. Her bloody blush told me she was affected deeply by my aggressiveness. It made me think that I had been putting off that side of our relationship too long.

"Ahem! So where do we go next, huh? No one in this town wants us around now!" Martina growled with a matching glare to Lina.

I didn't want the ladies to get in a fight over me. Really I didn't. Trouble was, ill feelings had been brewing between those two from the beginning. If I handled the situation right, I knew I could work this to my advantage somehow, and I did.

"I believe there's a copy of the Claire Bible in the next town. If we're quick we might be able to catch the brass rackets tournament," I said, adding a whimsical smile.

As an aside, let me say that one of the keys to my long life and success has been the special touches. In this case, with just a little ground work a perfectly ordinary excursion became a truly memorable event with fringe benefits. This one turned out to be good fun with light exercise. Most importantly, Lina displayed amazing dexterity and control over the Dragon Slave incantation she hefted at the arena. Took it down, but not the town nearby.

If you took out a large area map and drew a straight line from the grand city of Seyruun to the den of inequity where Lord Gaav was currently hanging his hat, you might notice that all the towns, where Lina had fired off her blazing Dragon Slave, lay upon that line. Coincidence? No. All my doing. Me, me, me. Controlled chaos. Directed spontaneity. Effective time management. Call it what you will, but it all gets down to the one behind the scenes carrying the load of responsibility, who in this case was me.

The next up was going to be a challenge as only women were allowed past the gates separating Femille from the rest of the world. This was going to be a kick, I just knew it! So what enticement could I possibly offer Lina and her band to lure them onward on my quest? Oh come on...not that again! Well, if it worked before, abuse it to death.

"Oh, Lina! Up the road a ways is a small kingdom of Femille. It's rumored to have a Claire Bible powering the purification shrine." I shrugged almost apologetically. It was really sounding repetitive, rather anemic, and I...

"Well, why are we standing here, then?" Lina punched me on the arm. "Let's go!"

...followed right behind her. Forward Ho! To the kingdom of Femille we did go!

And I have got to tell you, it was all worthwhile to see that stuck up chimera loosen up a bit and 'dress down' so to speak. I looked svelte in a red China silk dress; I really filled it out and not with the oranges Martina (yes, I was still hobbled by that woman) stuffed down my chest. I altered my form, and I know both the swordsman and the chimera admired me.

If I had had any lingering doubts concerning the Lord Gaav's network of minions and tenacity, I soon had my doubts erased. It was confirmed that we were on the right track, when yet another one of Gaav's goons showed up to take out Lina. This one was the feeblest creature yet, so I figured out that he must be running out of demon riff-raff to provide cannon fodder for Lina. Aside from enjoying the feel of silk on my skin and having a few laughs, the trip was nearly a wasted effort.

But then, the chimera took out the demon water creature before Lina had a chance. What an unexpected benefit I was harvesting! Not only was Lina gaining fast in her mastery of black magic, but her friends were growing stronger and more confident as well, not that they had a chance against the power of Demon Dragon Lord Gaav, but her friends could distract him while Lina prepared her spell...the spell...yes... See? Not a waste! Not a waste, at all!

This was nearly the end of our journey because the next stop was Rikido Village wherein lay the gateway to an actual copy of the Claire bible. Honest! I swear it's true!

"If you are interested, a complete copy of the Claire Bible is stowed away in a nearby temple," I told Lina who was making herself miserable over their bad luck of late.

"What?!" she screamed and grabbed me by the throat.

"You..." the chimera joined in.

Together the pair tried their best to throttle me, much to my gratification. Just before I was about to pass out, intoxicated by their anger (human misery and anger have that effect on me, in excess and if I let it,) the Martina creature 'rescued' me. That's what she thought she was doing. I nearly blasted her out of existence and would have if Lina hadn't launched into her first. Delightful! I had two women fighting over me, in a way– three if you counted the chimera. Okay, so he wasn't fighting over me. He was promising to do _something terrible _to me, if I intended to 'put one over on them again.'

And this time I was telling the truth! Ah...yes, well, it wasn't the right time to point out that I didn't think it would be of any use to them, but it _was_ there.

I sure showed all those skeptics, when the next day I pushed open a door in said temple and _voila!_ A magical gateway to an alternate dimension. Okay, not really. It was a magical gateway to the desert where Lord Gaav was currently _in situ_ from when I had last located him. However, to further amaze my love with my abilities, I smiled, made a grand sweeping gesture with my free arm (the other being claimed by Martina the Leech) and countless stone tablets rose from the desert floor. Ah, yes, they were all impressed with that!

"Behold..." I began.

"Wow!"

"I can't read this? What kind of writing is this? Can you read this, Xelloss? What good are you?!"

There was no pleasing these people, my Lina in particular. I didn't waste any effort trying either. Why bother? There wasn't anything in it for me. Besides, there was a chance that one of them might actually decode the things.

Then a remarkably unpredictable occurrence changed everything; a bizarre old woman claiming to be the tablet's caretaker arrived. I had the funniest feelings about her. Actually, no feelings. No aura. No nothing. She excited my curiosity. Um, not in the same way that Lina did.

I almost missed the substance of what she was telling Lina. What? She would lead Lina to a place where Lina could learn more spells to kill high level demons?! Lina wanted something less dangerous than the Giga Slave? WHAT?! She didn't WANT to destroy the world if she lost control of it? What made Lina think she _could_ control it? No no no! I'd worked so hard to get Lina on this path. This was my program, not some old auntie's to horn in on and take over!

Well, that was how it was now. We were all on this new mission and I was not in charge. Lina no longer saw me as the strong leader type, I could tell. And this auntie person was pushing her into some kind of a relationship with the swordsman.

One evening I nearly walked in on some tender moment between the two, Lina and the swordsman. I felt a black hatred course through my person. I began to summon a lightening bolt to send through his pea-sized brain, when I noticed 'auntie' watching me out of the corner of her eye. Who was that old lady? Instead I put the man to sleep, and stalked off. At least Lina would be safe from his affections that night.

I think the old woman read my mind or looked in and saw who I was and what my motives were, because before I was out of earshot, I overheard her tell Lina never, ever to call upon the Giga Slave spell, not even against Lord Gaav. She added a simple 'prediction' illusion to add more impact to her warning of gloom and doom.

Oh, shit! All my hard work was about to be wasted. I had been SO CLOSE. Why had I let that chimera get to me like that? Why had I felt I needed to TELL THE DAMNED TRUTH and show them this place? All I had to do was just lead them on a merry chase IN THE OTHER DIRECTION TO WHERE WE WERE CURRENTLY HEADED. We could have run into his Highness, Lord Gaav, by now. It could have been all over.

Over. But what if Lina hadn't been able to subdue the demon lord enough for me to deliver him to Hellmaster? What if she was forced to blow him away with the Giga Slave and she lost control and the world was destroyed?

Well, that was what I wanted. But not so soon, I determined. I wasn't ready. I hadn't 'won' my Lina yet. Okay. Then this auntie woman was doing me a favor, buying us a bit more time to get our love affair on track. I could live with that, I decided.

I was so messed up.

I was knocked out of my personal 'happy place' by an alert from my demon-detector. Instantly I moved to protect old auntie and Lina from an incoming fireball attack.

"Saygram!" Lina snarled delectably. "I though I killed you before!"

Me, too. No sweat, I was confident that she could take care of him now... and then, Lord Gaav reared his really ugly head. Damn! How did this guy suck up every available demon into his power structure?

I guess that's what made him LORD Gaav and not General Gaav or simply Gaav. I had to admire his tactics, while wishing Lina and I had had just a little more time, a day or two, to prepare more for this meeting. Ah well, if wishes were demons, we'd all be a helluva lot better off, I can tell you.

End part 2.


	3. Part 3

**Obsession: A Xelloss story**

From part 2...

"Saygram!" Lina snarled delectably. "I though I killed you before!"

Me too. No sweat, I was confident that she could take care of him now... and then, Lord Gaav reared his really ugly head. Damn! How did this guy suck up every available demon into his power structure?

**-- Part 3 –**

Yeah. All in all, I had things under relatively tight control. Lina and her friends had located Gaav, in a way, once I lured them to his general area of influence. Lina surprised me with her concern for my safety. It was very touching. I was touched inside and out. I was also getting considerable damage from the cruel pummeling delivered by the Demon Dragon Lord himself, but (and this was the essential question) did Lina care for me enough to use her most destructive spells to save me? Was I confident that our relationship ran deep enough already?

Lina-dear looked wholesome with a bloom on her cheeks that revealed her actual startling youth. Her face had gentle angles, one rosy thing sloping into the next, and it suggested none of the hardness I knew her to have experienced. It seemed as though she were determined to stay innocent, to hang back even through life was dragging her painfully forward. And my conjecture bore out because she looked up at me and tried to ask, "You okay?" She choked it out but couldn't continue. Oh, this was enough to make me love her, because I was right with her, understanding every second and longing to step in.

But then... Ah, Gaav, you didn't have to give away my identity, you disloyal apostate! Yes, even the dumb swordsman figured out my secrets after that. There was the humble, harmless priest me and now the extremely powerful demon me was out there, exposed. I wasn't really all one or the other. And yet...both of them were me.

The real me and a false me were competing with each other to win what? I wondered if I would have to blurt out in a packed courtroom that I had been swooning in a lovesick haze over Lina the sorceress and therefore this was a _crime passionel_. I calmed down after telling myself that any action taken against me would probably be civil and not criminal, and if I screwed up this assignment the action could become pretty _un_-civil.

I also wondered when Lord Gaav was going to ask me a question to which I wasn't going to lie.

"What are his plans for Lina?" he insisted.

"My Lord Phibrizzo doesn't tell me everything about his plans," I smiled, marveling at my ability to answer truthfully with the same barefaced sincerity as I'd displayed on my five previous whoppers.

"I demand to know Hellmaster's plans!" Gaav demanded with another knockout punch to my face.

Seeing my chance to destroy my alter ego once and for all, I answered, "That's a secret!"

Now, at this point many things were coming together. Lina was considering conjuring up that Giga Slave-- that was the main one. Martina falling over herself to, once again, foolishly defend me against Lord Gaav was the other, the unfortunate one. Unable to have my Demon Blood amulets, Martina apparently crafted one of her own. I couldn't even pronounce its name much less keep a straight face when she marched up to Gaav and announced that, "Zoamelgustar will protect us!"

Lord Gaav's furious response, however, wiped off any veneer of a smile I might have glossed on. This was going to be over in an instant, unless Lina knew the quick-shot version of her spell. But I had discounted Lina's old auntie. She was much more than she appeared on the surface. It was she who channeled a spell, the nature of which I did not recognize, through the false amulet. She saved us all, twice. Me, included. Maybe she knew that her fight with Lord Gaav would destroy the sea of Claire Bible tablets, I don't know. It would explain why she passed on to Lina the location of the last depository of the Claire Bible in the Katahto Mountains. She was, it turned out, an apparition, the coalesced remains of the Water Dragon King, and now I owed her my life.

For all my bravado, there was little holding me together; I had to escape to the astral plane for reconstruction purposes. The damage Gaav had inflicted upon my astral side was far more extensive than it appeared. However, I was extremely mindful of the passing of time. Every minute I was gone was a minute Lina was on her own.

Remember, I was still an extremely formidable, though now 'outed', high order demon. So, despite being still on the mend, I rejoined Lina and her companions. I located the group gathered at a table (surprise) in an eating establishment. Showing up there before I was fully healed was a demonstration of my transcendence beyond mere human limits. I was the most elite member of my race she was ever to befriend. That was bound to impress Lina.

Alas, all Lina wanted from me was the same information Gaav had been unable to extract and then I was attacked by the princess' song of life and hope. Ruby-eye! I might as well have stayed at home and recovered completely. On the bright side, my being non-human with a lofty position in the demon hierarchy broke Martina's heart.

It all went from bad to worse soon after that, when who should we run into on the street outside, but my boss, checking up on me. I recognized him from his aura, since he had altered his human form to appear as a prepubescent boy. Thankfully, he left after imparting some useful travel information, but not without getting his hands all over my Lina while giving her a 'massage.' I know he did that on purpose to vex me. I certainly couldn't exact a counterattack on Lord Hellmaster now, could I?

For crying out loud, would the man not leave me to my job in peace?! I really preferred the Lord Beastmaster's style, laid back and non-interfering. I hoped to return as her devoted servant as soon as my current assignment with Phibrizzo was over.

Oh, and I knew that at our destination, the top of Dragon's Peak, I would meet an old enemy of the past. In fact, I relished meeting the intractable dragon leader after many years of estrangement. I mean, when you've lived as long as I have, you get to know the other immortals and appreciate their persistence.

I stunned Lina with my worldliness and near-encyclopedic knowledge. "Milgasia and I go way back. He will be glad to show you the way, Miss Lina." I met Lina's eyes, and then looked up at the tall dragon man confidently. _Just give me a reason to wipe out this valley of dragons_, my innocent smile said.

I was a violent son-of–a-bitch, and the dragon man knew it. He called me by my title 'Beast Master', although being second to Zelas technically made me 'the Lesser,' establishing his justifiable fear of me and my power. _Of course _he'd allow us entry into his valley. _Of course _he'd lead Lina to view his priceless artifact concealed within the bowels of the mountain retreat.

_Of course _it wouldn't be that easy...

Saygram, came to interfere. I offered to take him on so that Lina would feel unencumbered and be free to make good use of her time viewing the Clair Bible inside the mountain. _Anything to benefit my dear Lina in her quest for knowledge_. Learning the key to the powerful spell that would enable her to destroy the world was my choice for Lina's gainful employment. This could be it, the moment I had been waiting for, right? Which brought me to the next point: how, then, to get her to fire it off?

Saygram, was one of Gaav's minions and of vastly of inferior strength compared to me. I considered him to be fair game under the circumstances, if he attacked first, which he did. I held Saygram on the astral plane long enough to take him through my line of reasoning, as follows, 'do what I tell you or die at my hands.' Saygram grudgingly agreed to be her guinea pig; that is to say, Saygram wisely agreed to be my sacrificial lamb on Lina's enchanted altar on our return to the action.

And then, just as I was on the cusp of success, who should break in on the scene but that damnable, interfering little Martina woman dragging along none other than Lord Phibrizzo like a wayward tot. Why employ me to do the job if he was going to interfere at every turn? Talk about difficult working conditions! I really didn't need HIM breathing down my back!

Lina scared the bejeebus out of Saygram when she turned her powerful Ragna Blade on him. But at that same moment what I detected, and she didn't, was a dark magic spell aimed at her from Saygram, the untrustworthy scum of a traitor. So I stabbed him in the back. Served him right.

Lina was a tad miffed that I hadn't given her the opportunity to show off, but the spell turned out to have originated from Lord Gaav, appearing out of nowhere, and not Saygram. (So, I was wrong about Saygram. He wasn't duplicitous. Ah...well...my mistake. I'm allotted one per century.)

Gaav liked the idea of throttling me to within an inch of my life. "Save your life, tell me the Hellmaster's plans!"

It was lucky for Lina that she had not expended all her strength on Saygram. She would need it for Gaav. I had hopes for my Lina. But, Lina was not ready. She was not yet strong enough to defeat a demon of Lord Gaav's strength, even with her terrifying use of the deadly Ragna Blade. And as for her use of the Giga Slave, I really didn't want to test her depth of feelings for me.

With my boss looking on, however, sacrificing myself was in order. I conjured up an inscrutable smile and replied, "That's a secret."

Displeased with my answer, Lord Gaav carved off half my body in a cowardly attack from behind. I cracked out half a sob, drawing on the intensity of belief that I had employer who could put me back together. For dramatic effect, I reeled backward onto the ground and caught sight of him, Phibrizzo, snickering atop a rock, and then I disappeared. As much as I preferred working _without_ Hellmaster sitting in judgment of my every move, if he wanted to be the one to take Lord Gaav down alone, fine. I mean, the demon had a piece of Shabranigdo in him!

Oh, and I honestly didn't know Phibrizzo would kidnap the lame-brained swordsman to use as bait in order to test Lina further; that is to say, I wasn't _sure_ he'd use my suggestion. I considered doing something along those lines myself, but I think I must have given away my feelings. I don't think Phibrizzo trusted me or my motives entirely. I didn't.

Unfortunately, I was once again in absolutely no shape to help Lina. It would take time to repair the amount of damage I had incurred at Gaav's hands. My Lord Phibrizzo might have generously diverted Gaav's leftover astral power my way, but he didn't. To replace the missing aural material, I had to beg off a bit from the Lord Beastmaster Zelas, no simple or cheap trick. Coercion, pressure, and taking advantage of her irrational impulses– the things I have had to do for some demons!

It gave me time to think. I wondered if Lord Phibrizzo had absorbed Gaav's lost power himself. That would make the Hellmaster extremely dangerous. If I didn't return to his service, he might consider me to be weak and a liability. However, I didn't like his deep interest in my Lina. I wanted to protect her from him.

Then I wondered if I had made a miscalculation; I worried that it might be dangerous for Lina to endure the stress of losing her close associate, the blond swordsman, now, when she was most inclined to recover her strength and sling out a string of spells directed at me, for instance.

Damn that swordsman. Damn Hellmaster. As long as I was under contract with him, I couldn't get in his way. My hands were tied! I couldn't interfere but if I didn't DO SOMETHING Lina would blame me for everything. Well, if I couldn't be an obstructionist, I didn't have to _help_ the now obviously insane, obscenely powerful demon lord.

I feared that I had arrived too late. My Lina, my dearest, was gone. I didn't know what to make of the mix of emotions I was experiencing. She had been taken over and away by the Lord of Nightmares, someone I couldn't fight or argue with. But the bearer of the Sword of Light was too stupid to understand that, and so he chased after her. I admired the strength of his convictions and envied the depth of his love for Lina. Then he too was gone from sight in the brilliance of her Lord of Nightmare's exalted light. Gone, but not forever.

At that moment I felt a request summon me elsewhere to action. I really needed the distraction from my own ruminations. Lina...gone? My Lina was...gone?

"Find the Sword of Light, my child, and I shall grant you your heart's desire." It sounded something like that. The kind of request you act on immediately and without question.

So, I chased down the swordsman's treasure, the Sword of Light, at great personal risk. Hellmaster had stowed this most dangerous weapon away for safe keeping, replacing it with a second-rate facsimile. Gourry was carrying the fake now, probably too impassioned to notice. Since the magical sword could destroy a demon but not be destroyed BY a demon, Phibrizzo had hidden it well. Naturally, I was missing during Lina's crucial time having to face HER END alone, but I was understandably busy. I'll tell you, scanning the astral plain for a sword is like combing the sand at the beach for that one special infinitesimal grain...

But I located the weapon, freed it from the Phibrizzo's convoluted web of incantations intended to disguise and confine it, and returned it to it's human owner, after he had saved Lina and returned her to our dimension– all this while continuing to heal the missing pieces of my body.

That Lina was whole and alive again gave me great spiritual buoyancy, but I felt my endeavors were under appreciated. Before I could complain or pout over my sorry state, though, Lord Beastmaster Zelas recalled me to Wolfpack Island. She wanted a complete run-down of the Lord of Nightmares incident leading to the demise of her peer, Lord Hellmaster. Then she wanted me to chase down a few errands for her. _Then_ she needed to waste my time and talents on any number of useless tasks any number of sub-demons could have handled. So petty. What a showing the Demon Lords made! Insane, narrow-minded, unimaginative, and just plain stupid. No wonder they hadn't won the war against the dragons!

I completed my assignments with dispatch, asked for some time off, was granted _one_ day and night, and then hastily scanned the astral plain for my obsession. With so little time remaining to devote to Lina, I was mad with impatience. I located Miss Lina indulging herself at an inn. Her aura had changed. She had been the vessel holding the maker of us all, the Lord of Nightmares, and it had left her altered in a most desirable way, like a demon aphrodisiac. Just one more amazing reason to love her. I was sipping a glass of water, alone at a table for two, wishing Lina would join me. I heard footsteps headed my way. Lina's hand touched my shoulder and I turned.

"I just wanted to say thank you."

"Oh," I said. "I didn't do anything."

She leaned in toward me. I watched her lips part and close; I heard her breath between the words. In close, her voice changed. Lower, more resonant, like wind across a bottle top. In close, her beauty trebled. Her hair fell forward and scattered the hard light on her face into softer shadows.

"You returned Gourry's sword; that was something." She looked momentarily puzzled. But this was such a tiny bewilderment at the end of doomsday it hardly mattered.

Her open admiration for my beneficence warmed my heart. I decided not to tell her about the circumstances; that I was only following orders from above and only because I was promised...something special.

She retreated into the midst of the dining room, joining her rag tag companions. "Hey, come over here with us!"

I was being included?

"You got a room here tonight?" Lina asked.

"Yes. A double," I added quickly. I thought it important that Lina know that there was room for two, if that was what she was asking.

"Hey, that's great. We got the last room, but it's just a closet. Plenty of room for a guy like you. We'll trade, eh?" Her hand rested, palm up on the table, waiting for my room key. The pale side of her wrist was lost and wan, longing for the sun.

Under no circumstances would I allow that man in my bed with my woman!

"Is it going to work, Miss Lina? I'm about to drop. I'll sleep on the table if..."

The little princess and Lina sharing my bed? Oh, well...that was nice. "Okay," I agreed and dropped my key into her hand. We both knew she was only a spell away from breaking and entering the room anyway, but it was thoughtful of her to ask first.

And then Lina added a wonderful thing: she said, "See ya." I had to stay there a second and take her in before I was able to unstick my feet from the floor.

As midnight closed in on us, the extraneous sounds of footfalls on the stairs, doors slamming, the tinkling of bar-ware from the dining room unwove themselves from the night. I closed my eyes. I thought of the two women in my bed effusing the mattress and blankets with their magical femininity. My body curled and tightened, bowl-shaped. I gasped for breath in my tiny cupboard of a room. I pictured myself stretched over Lina like a blanket, but I was watching from the astral plain.

I realized what I was missing, Martina. Of course, it was her wedding to some mediocre sorcerer that they had been discussing at the table. How timely! I couldn't help but think that my new availability could only heighten my desirability in Lina's eyes.

In the morning, Lina and her entourage slipped away like a caravan leaving an oasis. I was left adrift. I wondered how I was going to fill the time until I could reasonably excuse my joining them again. My existence revolved around Lina. I formed habits to keep the other demons at bay, because her touched-by-the-Lord-of-Nightmares aura called out to them, hordes at times. Well, that and she was now held responsible for the deaths of Rezo the Red Priest, Mazenda, Kanzel, Lord Gaav, and Hell Master Phibrizzo. I knew better. Lina was good, but she had only outsmarted Rezo in his madness, I took out Mazenda but let it appear Lina had, Phibrizzo destroyed Gaav, and the Lord of Nightmares consumed Lina and granted Phibrizzo his death wish. Lina's real claim-to-fame was her unanticipated comeback from the Lord of Nightmares incident.

It was, in fact, a long time (from a mortal's point of view) before I had the opportunity to locate and follow Miss Lina again. The Lord Beastmaster Zelas sent me on a number of missions, one to determine the cause of an astral disturbance of extreme proportions. The Demon Barrier to the outer world had fallen, she thought, due to Hellmaster Phibrizzo's destruction. There was also a growing demon presence in the desert she wanted me to look into. Perhaps, with some trickery, I could lure it out for Lina to attack?

Of course I could do that for my Lord Beastmaster. I sent out a horde of minions to pass the word: 'Lina Inverse, demon slayer (with a full but, as I pointed out, incorrect list of names of her victims) is on her way.' Then I investigated the barrier, finding the reports as to its disappearance to be true. Where it had been protected from our neck of the woods by the 'barrier' since the end of the War of Demon and Dragons, the Outer World was now exposed. I had not passed through those settlements in over 1000 years, and since I so rarely encountered anything novel, I looked forward to exploring the area with youthful anticipation.

To my delight, my investigations soon intersected the passage of Lina and company. This time, Lina was in business with a young, and ignorant, Golden Dragon, the stink of which nearly gagged me on first contact. We played a little game of cat-and-mouse, the dragon lady and I, me doing the catting about and her suspecting something and frustrated that she couldn't expose me. Apparently the dragon nations were aware of the change in the barrier, too. What bad luck to have them to contend with! My only consolation, and it was an important one, was that my contract with Hellmaster had concluded with his death. I was solely under Lord Zelas. Oh, and I no longer had that human leech attachment in my bed.

When I reported back to my boss my discoveries and findings, she recommended that I ignore the dragon nuisance. I should continue my previous course of action, which was to develop Lina's powers and then lead her into tempting situations. Since this was exactly what I wanted to do, I complied immediately. Of course, the _situations_ Zelas had in mind for Miss Lina were likely to have been magical, destructive ones, whereas the ones I had in mind leaned heavily to, but was not strictly of, a carnal nature. I located my heart's desire, and transported instantly.

I appeared just in time to catch her friendly, sidekick swordsman, mid-fall. How lucky. Lina had noticed, though, and smiled upon me. There was nothing I could do to thwart her growing regards for the owner of the Sword of Light, but I had one advantage he did not; time. One day he would die. I needed only bide my time while improving myself in Lina's eyes, and she would be mine, eventually. What had seeped its way into my consciousness, however, was harder to accept: Lina-touched-by-the Lord of Nightmares would not love a demon. There was nothing I could do about my composition.

Stepping into the circumference of Lina's influence, I let her aura engulf me and was overcome with pleasure. When my delirium abated, I approached her, my movements deliberate as a chess move. But my thrill over her aura clashed with my obsession for her soul, and my extremities turned cold. My hands trembled uncharacteristically. I felt greatly unbalanced and widened my stance to keep from reeling. I breathed deeply to calm myself, but instead, my pulse raced into the danger zone. If I'd allowed my body to do what it wanted to do, it would have fallen on its knees and kissed her feet.

But instead, I harnessed my inner demon, marched on, spurred by inertia and the infinitesimal recollection that I had recently been awash in good feelings and not died. Each step up and down pitched me into the empty wasteland fires of hell and lifted me into the exquisite tortures of the sunlit sky and Lina's golden-hued aura. My persecutors were Lina's friends and my redeemers were my fingers clenching my staff for support. I could feel the hair at the nape of my neck dampen with sweat.

We were not alone.

I stole the occasional glance and could see Lina was looking my way, expecting me to say something. Each eyelash was clearly defined against the crisp background of rock and sky. She was a riot of color in a desert of pastels, her skin with its pink underglow set against the blacks, reds and yellow of her costume. I assembled from the sight of her, from memories of her, a clear picture of Lina's most touching quality: her denial of defeat. Lina also saw through my ruse. I could sense this intuitively. She knew I was using her and her friends to draw out the source of suspicious activity in these parts. She didn't know why. She didn't know I was leading her to my race's ultimate objective, obliteration of her world. She also didn't know how she affected me personally.

Now, as she listened to what the green-haired demon told her, defiance slithered across her face. The creature's name raised my suspicions, Val**GAAV**. I decided to reach deep down to the wellspring of my charisma, which had been too long undisturbed, and dip in. My voice deepened and my testicles lowered.

"Valgaav, whatever you are, fight me, not the young human," I said. I wondered where it was that this bad-tempered character had materialized from. I rarely met another demon that I didn't recognize and that I so thoroughly disliked on first acquaintance.

With Valgaav, I met my match, although I didn't think so at first meeting. I just knew he was one tough, arrogant, son-of-a-ruby-eye-only-knows-what demon I had never crossed forks with before. I could taste Lord Gaav's essence on him; Valgaav must have absorbed the demon lord's power at his death. Lord Phibrizzo, the idiot, hadn't routed the demon lord's astral essence my way, that was certain. He should have. What the hell did this whelp do to deserve Lord Gaav's power as a reward?

But there was something more to the Valgaav creature than simply having his powers augmented by Lord Gaav. There was also something more to the situation. Almayce! A being of no known astral signature, but I could sense phenomenal power pulsating from Almayce, and it frightened me. Not good. Very bad. Fear made me vulnerable, so I transported far away to consider the situation further.

Valgaav blamed Lina for the death of his Lord and master, Gaav. Well, at least I knew my minions had done their jobs getting word out. This was what I was luring out of the wastelands to test my Lina. I wasn't sure she could defeat Valgaav in a fight, but I knew she hadn't a chance with that Almayce thing protecting him.

I also wanted to get the Golden Dragon out of the equation. I nearly succeeded, too. I lead them to a town outlawing dragons, teased her into revealing her race, and watched her become incarcerated. And that would have been that, had Lina and the others not gotten involved, causing themselves to be included in the mess. My dear Lina... In the end, I had to tease the silly, hot-headed dragon unmercifully until she destroyed the town, thus saving Lina from certain delay. I got so into it, I'm afraid, that I overdid the torment and ended up in a frolicking chase across the realm with the dragon, instead of accepting Lina's grateful thanks for saving her.

I watched the band of heroes following Lina into the desert with interest. They had been wandering for a month getting no further along on my goals. When I learned that they were determined to reach the temple of the Fire Dragon King, I left them to their own devices while I transported ahead to engage in a little espionage of my own. Here was a place I had never been. How wonderful an opportunity to learn the secrets of my enemy! Of course, I reported my activities back to my master. No reason to leave her guessing about my motivations when entering enemy territory.

Lina arrived, as I knew she would, but the dragon lady's attitude really set me off my feed, and so I had to leave my dearest's presence for a short time. I didn't go far, just to the astral plain to observe in peace and quiet. Whatever the dragons' scheme was, it seemed to require Lina's particular skills and assistance.

Well, I needed Lina too, making this was quite an awkward predicament. It became more so with the reappearance of Almayce, wherein I learned of his origins. Not only were the dragons involved, but creatures from another universe where the demon lord Darkstar ruled. This Almayce wanted to collect a few particular weapon artifacts which together unlocked or locked the gateway between our universes. I was proud that my Lina found this preposterous and refused to hand over the Sword of Light. Not after all the trouble I had gone through to recover it!

Then, to my complete surprise, that Valgaav enigma crashed the party wanting a part of the action and no special deals. Why, even the dragon lady showed some worthiness when she agreed with Lina and defied her dragon council– she would offer them no cooperation. When it was clear that their magic was going to be ineffective against Almayce, I transported to their assistance.

Let's just say that once I learned of Valgaav's dragon-demon resurrection background, I nearly felt sorry for the atrocity that he was. The man was in pain. The waves of it nearly bowled me over. Nearly. Then I decided that I wanted him to serve me. I was short some help and he showed the kind of devotion and dedication I was looking for in a retainer. He would need some help with his demon-dragon transformations first.

But then he took off for places unknown, most likely out of embarrassment for his poor showing just then. A demon who cannot stand and take a little pain and punishment once in a while is a sorry, sorry thing.

I felt we all needed a break. I certainly did. The dragon walls were closing in on me oppressively, probably adding to Valgaav's condition. So, in order to give the pitiful guy a break, I suggested to the company that we retreat and regroup elsewhere, say... in a place with '_magic vessels _to strengthen yourselves for battle.' I dropped the Claire Bible insinuation, since I was sure it was getting stale by now, and made up something less preposterous sounding.

I can offer up advice at a moment's notice. Like candy, it's only a fleeting cure for the starving man. But, believe it or not, there was such a place, or pair of places, called the Kingdoms of Baritone and Alto (Alto being the high one in the mountains and Baritone being on the flats, lower down– I didn't make that up!)

In Alto, Lina, the dragon lady, and the swordsman were greeted by the sounds of battle and were soon arrested and thrown in jail. I noticed this, but since it was the swordsman's fault, I decided it was his duty to get them out of it, and if he couldn't, then I would come to Lina's rescue, naturally.

Across the bay in Baritone, the chimera and the princess had been invited to a royal banquet, which sounded more comfortable, so I joined them. As everything seemed under control for the time being, I chose this time to report back to my Lord Beastmaster. She should know about Valgaav and my desire to 'bring him on board'. With her permission, I returned to see how my Lina was fairing.

She was at the center of chaos and looking as alluring as ever. Somehow, she and her friends had picked up one big ugly hunk of beast tainted with Valgaav's aura. How nice. Also they had attracted a furball, also a minion of Valgaav's. So, Valgaav would come complete with his own entourage? Fine. I wouldn't kill them then. Lina could if she wanted, though.

I was amazed. Lina had no idea how old those magic vessels were. She was only a child. I told her that they were from the War of the Dragons and Demons and that if their magic were to be fused, the melding of Holy and Black Magic would result. This thrilled Lina and horrified the dragon lady, which was most satisfying for me. I thought Lina should try it since it might result in a powerful weapon. It was an amusing show of magic, which left the vessels broken and Lina in need of something more to do.

This time, it wasn't I who suggested their next entertainment. When Lina was told of the strange legend of a powerful weapon secreted up at Mount Coronay, I was skeptical. In all my years, I hadn't heard any such legend. I assumed it to be fraudulent, and so agreed to follow along, just in case it was one of Valgaav's traps. I had been unable to locate him anywhere so this seemed to be the easiest way to find him. I was right, partially. His furball minion had some feebleminded scheme for pairing us up in such a way as to weaken our defenses. I would have nothing to do with it! Under no circumstances would I allow myself to put up with that nasty dragon woman's insults or company, so I transported away to look for Valgaav hidingaway inside.

I located Valgaav by his agonizing roars. His lair resided beneath the pillar of light, a place I recognized from my earlier searches. I didn't stop to say 'hello'; he was preoccupied with himself. Instead, I hunted for Lina and her gang. They were not far off, lost in a maze of tunnels.

"Xelloss! Have you seen Jillas? He has Gourry's sword!" Lina shouted out.

"I suggest you hurry, this way," I said, drawing them in the right direction, perhaps, until we came to an unfamiliar division in the road.

"We'll go this way," Lina indicated herself and the swordsman-no-longer.

"Zel, you and Amelia go that way." Oh, how I loved her voice of command!

"Xelloss, you take Filia and take that last tunnel!"

"Huh?"

"You heard me, go!" Lina ordered without regards to my feelings on the matter **at all**.

It went something like that. I really can't say now. I was upset by the whole thing. However, my Lina was looking more relaxed by the minute, so I deferred to her whims.

End part 3.


	4. Part 4

**Obsession: A Xelloss story**

**From part 3...**

"Xelloss, you take Filia and take that last tunnel!"

"Huh?"

"You heard me, go!" Lina ordered without regards to my feelings on the matter **at all**.

It went something like that. I really can't say now. I was upset by the whole thing. However, my Lina was looking more relaxed by the minute, so I deferred to her whims.

**-- Part 4 –**

_Author's note: This chapter contains a retelling of the Try season of the anime, with multiple, but intentional,alterations along the way to enable this story to stand on its own. Forgive. _

The first thing I did was lose the dragon. When she was around me, I became overwhelmed with urge to do or say something that might be better left undone or unsaid, and at the moment I needed all my wits ready to duel with Valgaav. I wanted a private word with him to establish our future working relationship before Lina and her gang got him all stirred up again.

I had hoped to find him in a less contentious mood than upon our first meeting. I understood that he might feel at loose ends now that he was deprived of his lord and master's influence. _I_ might have, had I not had my Lord Zelas to recall me to service following Hellmaster's demise. Also, Valgaav really needed to get a handle on his transformation. I could help him with that; I would establish my masterful control over of his appearance, and then, entice him to serve me-- or if not me, then he should at least accompany me to meet Lord Beastmaster Zelas.

"Hello, Valgaav," I began in a friendly tone.

"You ...!" was followed by the foulest language I had ever heard. I didn't know who he'd been hanging out with lately, but the man was lacking the social skills to pass for a slop-boy in polite circles.

"Listen, Val, I'm not here to start a fight with you. On the contrary, I rather like you! You have a great deal of potential. With a little polish I'm certain you could rise quickly in the demon hierarchy. In fact, I've come to offer you the position of General to the Lesser Beast Master Xelloss."

"I already have a deal with Almayce to trap Darkstar in this world."

"I understand completely. My master is interested in summoning this alternative Dark Lord, or was at first, but... there are mitigating circumstances with the dragon clans, which you are unaware of, I'm sure, seeing as you have been on the wrong side of the barrier for the past 1000 years. It's kept you out of the information loop."

"I dunno. I got this deal which will destroy everybody I hate. Lina Inverse...you..."

I could tell Valgaav was already in my camp, but needed further enticement to commit to my offer 100 percent, so I added, "I'll tell you what, Valgaav. You join up with me and the Beastmaster and I will fix that nasty transformation process you have going there and...I'll throw in... Well, what the hell? I'll kill Lina Inverse for you. What so you say to that? Sound good to you...?"

I know I had him with that last part, but then that nosy, imprudent dragon brat barged in on us screaming, "I heard what you said! How can you be so callous as to trade Lina's life for... for... anything? I thought you were her friend! I thought you **_loved_** her!"

Oh, the 'love' word was a mistake. I could tell by the look in Valgaav's eye that any respect he had for me earlier had evaporated like spit in the desert.

"We're running short on time, Valgaav. Just say 'yes' and we'll get started..."

"Y-youu...love...L-Lina...I-Inverse?" Valgaav stuttered with a derisive snarl and curled lip.

"Oh, you can't believe anything she has to say! She's a Golden Dragon, you know, the clan who eradicated yours?"

"That's not right! You mustn't join with the demons. You have a dragon's soul..." the black-hearted, dragon lady implored.

"You are all alike!" Valgaav roared. "And you killed Lord Gaav...you and your...Lina Inverse."

I only wished that there was a 'me and my Lina Inverse', but there wasn't, only in my mind.

Suddenly, Valgaav chose to lash out with an attack I effortlessly dodged. I returned a volley in kind and for a few minutes we traded incantation insults.

After a brief warm-up period, our fight became punishing. Valgaav gave as well as he received, but my overall superiority won out. I had him on his knees and was teaching him a lesson in subservience, when the dragon lady distracted me. I thought to use the dragon lady as a shield, but actually saved her from a deadly rock fall. That earned me a point in the 'demon astonishes dragon' category and another in the 'demon perplexes another demon' sub-grouping under 'permissible distractions'. Unfortunately, it also gave Valgaav enough time to recover his Overworlder weapon, lent to him by his Almayce contact, and gain a point in the newly added 'demon-dragon scores on demon' column.

Lina and her gang arrived at this time with Almayce, but Valgaav triumphed over everyone. I admired how deftly he gained the advantage by adding to his Overworlder-weapon-set with the clever acquisition of the Sword of Light. Valgaav was powerful enough to perform a mass transportation of everyone present to a remote island called, unimaginatively, The Place of Summoning. (Almayce and his race had been responsible for creating the island where he intended to _summon_ and destroy Darkstar.) Before I could congratulate him on his winning game play, Valgaav performed an unattractive victory dance in the anesthetic glare of the Pillar of Light while spouting nihilistic nonsense about welcoming someone else's unwanted, insane Dark Lord to our world.

I reached the conclusion that too much power was not good for the demon psyche. Demon Lord Deep Sea Dolphin had long been bottled up in her underwater care facility for the insane. Lord Gaav thought he could start his own Demon society outside of the other demon-lord hierarchy and died failing to pull it off. Lord Phibrizzo got his death wish in a spark of fanatical brilliance. And now Valgaav had that wild-eyed gleam of mental instability. This left only Demon Lord Dynast, Demon Lord Beastmaster Zelas, and me among the living, clear-headed leadership.

While I was pondering the sad state of my race's mental health, I found myself gazing out at the panorama. Remarkable! I was the only one of my kind to tread on that land and I was impressed by the foreign technology. But after a while, even that fatigued my senses and my attention wandered. Seeing Lina again made want to be someplace else alone with her.

The dragon lady had said that I _loved_ Lina. I had volunteered to _kill_ Lina in exchange for Valgaav's fidelity. Both were true, and yet not. I desired Lina in a million ways, not unlike her human friends, but different too. I wouldn't have killed her because once Valgaav really got to know her and the truth (...You weren't there at the time and I was...it was Phibrizzo who killed Gaav, not Lina...) he would want to forgive and forget everything. I wanted to use her to destroy my world and hers, and yet, I wanted to create a universe where only she and I existed for each other. I knew that logically I could not do both, but I assured myself that I could. _Now_ who was the loopy one?

Miss Lina drove me to do and think in ways formerly foreign to my behavior. I discovered new and troubling needs. I had irrational motives for performing trivial or repetitive actions to get her attention, like breathing. Did I always require air to live, or was that a new thing? I couldn't remember.

She left my side to confront Valgaav again, attempting to reason with him violently. I found Almayce studying me.

"You are unlike the others," Almayce noted aloud.

"That is correct. I am primarily a spiritual being, this being my visual form of convenience. I _know_, therefore I _am_." I patted my chest to prove I was solid material. "You, on the other hand, have no astral body at all in this dimension. That makes your physical body very fragile. However, I believe that also makes you invulnerable to our magical spell attacks."

I think I shook Almayce up with my correct analysis.

"What I don't understand is why you are exerting so much effort on all this," I told him. "I simply would have dumped Darkstar in this world and gone back to my own."

"Mine is the race of the Gods," he intoned majestically from twenty feet above my head. "Even though our God, Volphied, died at the hands of Darkstar, we still abide by our code of honor, which will not allow us to destroy another world purposely."

"Really? That is why our two races can never negotiate, I suppose," I smiled ruefully. I watched Valgaav fly haphazardly, while carrying the dragon lady, from a pit below to the platform above.

Almayce had been frantically shutting down some contraption. "You are too late," I told the foreigner. It was unnecessary for me to point out that Darkstar was on his way into our world. Also unnecessary was for me to point out that fact to Lina. Her expression darkened with the understanding. It was too late to stop Valgaav. I could read the fleeting passions flowing over and through her. I sympathized deeply. And when she came to the realization that she had the only tool to stop him at her fingertips, I experienced her obvious terror and revulsion as she came to grips with her final decision. If she made an error in the casting of her spell, it would mean the end of the world, perhaps all the worlds in all the universes.

I could feel the roar of blood in my ears. My blood. At that moment I knew I had to act. I was not prepared to lose my time in this world with my Lina. I was on the cusp of completing my career's objectives, but not my personal ones. So, I disrupted her incantation.

As my excellent luck would have it, my impulsive move was masked by the sudden appearance of two more Overworlders crashing through the barrier to our world. My heart rate rose to an alarming rate as I watched the beings, armed with two more magical weapons, partially seal the gateway, trapping Darkstar midway between our two worlds. This disruption of the power grid surrounding us caused a vortex to envelop our island. I had a moment to shield Lina and whoever was within her reach and send them safely afloat to the mainland. In another heartbeat, I put the remaining humans into shields and scattered them in the roughly the same direction. With the next beat of my heart, I transported myself home.

I collapsed in my room, gasping for the breath I had been holding since I had touched Lina and interrupted her Giga Slave. _What had I done? _The immensity of my actions descended upon me, pinning me to the floor boards. _What...had...I...done? _Well, for one, Lina would awaken and live to see more days. For another, the world would have another chance.

_Oh, was that all? _A groan escaped my lips. I felt a headache coming on, which was odd because I had never suffered from one before.

_What would I say to my Lord Beastmaster? _I had saved the one and failed the other.

And worse yet... _When had I grown a heart with which to count the beats? When had I developed lungs requiring that I draw a breath? _I wondered all those things, and then lost consciousness for a long while.

At some point, I pulled myself together. I was unable to locate Lina precisely, so I returned to the island where the pillar of light still shone. Almayce was there with his two compatriots. They looked _nearly_ desperate enough to beg me for help, but not yet. That would come in time, though. They were intent on completing their mission of destroying Darkstar and the gateway. All they needed was one more magical weapon, hidden someplace. I found it amusing to hear them argue ethics under the conditions. One of their kind believed as I did and felt that it was a waste of their time to do any more. Almayce held to his beliefs, those of his gods, and commanded them to do their duty.

I waited with Almayce and watched the closures on the gates grow weaker. Once again I was acutely aware of the passage of time. The seals' grip was slipping ever so slightly, the pulse from the pillar of light flickering in micro-moments.

"They have located the final piece," one of the returning Overworlders announced.

"Before you go," Almayce warned him. "Create no more destruction upon this world."

"_Our_ world is at stake. Every moment we waste here brings our _ow_n that much closer to total annihilation," the one replied, then left on his appointed mission.

Time accelerated again for me, and I saw that their choices were not as simple as I had once thought, and nor were mine. I shook the momentary fuzzy-headedness off and immediately felt that Lina was in danger. In the blink of an eye I had transported myself to a cavernous temple just in time to catch an Ancient Dragon tell-all, story-in-a-vision. So that was where Valgaav acquired his distinctive, dramatic flair for tragedy! I knew the story, but was pleased to feel the oh-so-peaceful Golden Dragon lady's shocked reaction when she learned the news of her clan's bloody history for the first time.

Then I noticed the concealed artifact within a magical containment field. As the dragon lady continued to work her way toward that final weapon, I moved to block Almayce from intercepting her.

"You are here to steal the weapon for your own use!" Almayce had the nerve to accuse me to my face.

"I think that it's important to keep it out of his hands," I said, directing the Overworlder's eyes to a previous contact, the Golden Supreme Elder. "He tried to take the Sword of Light from Miss Inverse earlier."

The Supreme Elder strode out of the glowing fog making up the final shield to the weapon. I spotted a flight of Golden Dragons out a high window. "He has an army to back him up," I pointed out.

"They don't understand. We are here to help," Almayce sighed.

I was more concerned for Lina. She was out on the temple roof facing that army and the two Overworlders.

"I am the Supreme Elder of Volphied. Our only goal is to preserve the peace," Almayce was telling his Cephied counterpart. "I must see what is behind that barrier."

"Not on my watch, you don't!" the Golden Supreme elder snarled. He was the high-and-mighty type who hated anyone trying to pull rank on them. "Not only do I not accept your authority in my world or that of your _Volphied God_, but you are in the company of..."

He was about to indicate me, when he looked up and paused mid sentence. He must have signaled his army to begin their assault, because I could hear numerous laser-breath attacks overhead. I used the distraction to grab the dragon lady as my hostage.

"Do what the Overworlder asks, Dragon. Take down the barrier, or I shall be forced to...kill this priestess of yours." I dropped his title and used 'dragon' as an insult, which it was to anyone who wasn't one.

"She...is unimportant," the Golden Supreme Elder muttered. "Go ahead."

The squeals of hundreds of dying dragons could be heard. The dragoness was nervous, but cool-headed. She understood that her elder was ruthless enough to sacrifice any and all of his people to protect that weapon. "You knew all along that it was here!" she wailed at him.

"Don't be a stupid and stubborn dragon," I warned him. "Save your race and take down that barrier!"

We engaged in a parley of lies and embellished tales explaining the interactions of the Goldens and the Ancients as they had once vied for the powerful weapons. To her credit, the young dragon lady seemed intelligent enough to grasp the basics: her race was one of murdering liars and her superior was a stubborn madman. No different from the demon race, no better or worse. Or the human race, for that matter.

While the dragon lady was still in my arms, I gave her a seductive caress, mentioned this new common ground for us, and then suggested that we explore the possibility of our getting together for a steamy, inter-racial copulation party at my place. _I hadn't really meant it!_ _It was all an act!_ But then a terrible thought tore through my mind: _What if she said yes?!_

I released her just so she could attempt to blow me off the face of the planet with the full-force of her Holy Magic spell. Before it actually contacted me, I swept it up, fused it with a black magic one of my own, and then cast the combination at the barrier. It fell. Striking strategy! I was brilliant! Glowing with success, I was about to take the weapon up, when Miss Lina blasted her way onto the scene and bowled me over...and then the barrier restored itself.

I might have handed it to her, had she asked! Instead, I was the bad guy, entrapped by the princess and the chimera as they sang me into a swoon. Oh, I could have vaporized them on the spot, but this way everyone was busy while Lina whipped out her trusty Ragna Blade spell and smashed the Ancient Barrier completely. She was a delight to watch in action. I saw the triumph on her face as she claimed the weapon for her own, and felt the warmth of pride rise inside my chest. My Lina...

Almayce demanded the weapon from her. I was about to tell him how we could all just go back to the gateway and put an end to all this bickering, when one of his disciples stabbed him in the back. If that creature killed his master, then he wouldn't think twice about killing my Lina to get at that weapon! I leaped to my feet, sending the princess hurtling into a stone column (or was it her chimera friend?) In order to protect Lina from certain death, I ripped the weapon from her hands, knocked her out with a 'sleep' spell and a gentle knock on the noggin for appearances-sake, then vanished from the temple.

I thought to end the whole debate and plug up the leaking magic from the gate holding back Darkstar with the weapon in my hands. I was about to do just that, when the two servile Overworlders interrupted me.

"Why are you doing this?" one asked. "I can't see why you are standing in my way when this path leads to your world's destruction! Isn't your kind more closely aligned with that Darkstar than with our Volphied?"

"While that may be true, we of the demon race reserve the exclusive right to destroy our own world and so must protect it from outside attack. We owe Darkstar no allegiance."

"So, you intend to close the gate and destroy it permanently, thus saving your world from certain destruction...so you can turn around and destroy it yourself?" the Overworlder was incredulous of my imperfect logic.

I nodded with a wry smile, "I appreciate the irony of the situation—a demon saving the world-- but those are my orders, you must understand." They were, however, not my orders at all. I had no orders to cover this situation. I was playing by the seat of my pants, and to be entirely honest, I was listening to my 'heart' again. I was putting off total world destruction as long as possible now, and I knew it. I wanted to give Lina and me, whatever that might entail, a chance. I had liked the sound of 'you and your...Lina Inverse' when Valgaav had said it. I liked it a lot.

"You are a creature of chaos, to be sure," the other muttered, then shook his head as if to clear out any possible 'bad' influences coming from me.

The volatile Overworlder withdrew his weapon from the gate controller, "Then we must fight as enemies!"

Oh dear, what a waste of time. And I was so close to finishing all this... Lina, meanwhile, was making her way back to this spot. I spotted her out of the corner of my eye as she sailed in on the back of the Golden Dragon lady in full transformation. Darkstar was about to burst from his entrapment and I was dancing with this supporter of the gods of another dimension!

The other Overworlder stepped forward, "Erulogos! Stop this! Darkstar is breaking through, can't you see! We must work together! An alliance is our only hope."

"My point exactly!" I agreed.

"We should return to our own world and leave these...creatures to fight for their own survival. Be serious, Sirius..." he paused to think over what he had just said while the rest of us just let it pass. "All our armies could not stop him in our world, so what hope do these_ few_ representatives of this dimension have to kill him? We should go now!"

"It was our leader's wish to stay and fight for this world's survival."

They both had a point, but I had the best one, "You realize that if we don't fix the gate, and it doesn't appear that we'll have the time to do that now, that once Darkstar wipes out this world there is nothing to stop him from going back to yours and finishing where he left off. Therefore, I conclude that we stop him here and now."

My dearest Lina agreed with me. I was thankful that she wasn't holding a grudge over my stealing of the weapon from her. She even threw in her own gauntlet, adding that she'd fight them if they didn't help her. She looked so formidable; I think they were more fearful of their lives at her hands than at Darkstar's!

By the time everyone from our dimension was in agreement, Darkstar had a foot in the door. The 'serious' Overworlder began an incantation to activate the weapons. Naturally, our lengthy discussion allowed Darkstar time to squeeze further through the gate, but when the weapons locked it shut again, it cut Darkstar's connection with his 'home' dimension, effectively halving his strength. All the attacks merely wounded Darkstar, irritating him, and so did a large red amulet the dragon lady had picked up in the Ancient Dragon temple. Why would Darkstar react to that?

We soon discovered the answer to that question, when the Demon Lord of Lords swept off to the Fire Dragon King Temple with Lina and her friends in pursuit. There, from out of the swirling vortex of black miasma that was Darkstar, thundered Valgaav's voice. Valgaav. I had given up on him long ago, but now it seems as though his will was strong enough to vie with that of Darkstar. How my Lord Beastmaster would like to get her aura wrapped around that power structure! Not only was there the power of the last Ancient Dragon in there, but that of Lord Gaav, Darkstar, and Volphied!

Even using all five Overworlder weapons had no affect on the Darkstar-Valgaav fusion! I felt no pity for the Golden Supreme Elder, admitting his responsibility but then showing no remorse for the past mass murder of Valgaav's race. I felt even less when Valgaav reduced him to a smoldering pile of ash. Well, actually, I shuddered with pleasure.

Valgaav hardly blinked an eye, shot out a quick spell, and the temple lay in ruins at his feet. Then in a match over his soul with the Golden Dragon lady he revealed a great, long-held secret. "Do you know why the war of the Dragons and Demons repeats endlessly?" he asked.

This was forbidden knowledge!

"Sometimes the Dragons win, sometimes the Demons, but the cycle never ends," Valgaav trailed off, then resumed. "Well, I will tell you. **It is because we are all caught in a trap someone else created**. I was told this by Darkstar and Volphied, who are both a part of me. They willingly merged together to purify the Overworld, and now with me to purify ALL WORLDS!"

I was appalled at his gaffe and at his gall!

It was my dear Lina who had the nerve to point out that, as a human, she didn't see any reason for her to die because the demons and dragons' transgressions. Humans had short enough lifetimes without having to die for some other races' concept of 'purity'. I agreed, and to demonstrate how I felt, I instigated another round of attacks against Valgaav.

I gave Lina the Overworlder weapon I had stolen. She blinked. "Try casting a Dragon Slave through this," I suggested, and then carried her in my arms to give her a height advantage. She squirmed deliciously. I think she was aware that my body was reacting, but under the circumstances, ignored everything except the words of her spell. But even with all our combined forces, his darkness descended upon us. I felt the most excruciating pain as he slowly drained spirits from the astral plane, mine being the largest and easiest to tear into. An agonizing scream ripped from my throat. I could do nothing to save myself. Then we were released and it was over.

The gate broke apart in an explosion which tore our island asunder, and Darkstar's other half moved to join with the Valgaav portion. I was having serious doubts as to our ability to defeat this entity, should it double in strength, when in an odd twist of fate, the Valgaav portion took off into the sky.

"Valgaav is going to the Ancient Dragon Temple!" the dragoness shouted. How she came to that conclusion, I didn't know, but Lina trusted her judgment.

"Then let's go!" Lina shouted.

We all garnered our strength and weapons, and teleported ahead of Valgaav.

"You all do what I say," Lina commanded.

We agreed to fire the weapons in succession, while she prepared to cast her final spell, the Giga Slave. _No...don't...not yet..._I sealed the amplification amulets I had 'given' her. She would not be able to channel the Lord of Nightmare's power through them and the spell would dissipate.

It was, in retrospect, the right thing to do, but my stomach was churning with doubt at the time. I had no need to digest food, so why was that particular internal organ acting up? A heart, lungs, and now a sensitive stomach! I was a mess of a demon and I was making a mess of my orders.

Valgaav, on the other hand, was doing a superb job of creating havoc and ruin. He absorbed the power from the next weapon assault, and turned it on the Ancient Temple, reducing it to rubble for his entertainment. Then he vaporized an Overworlder who moved to confront him single-handedly. He appeared to be unstoppable.

But then, there was the Golden Dragon prophecy which brought her to seek out Lina in the first place: Lina was the only one with the strength and power to control the combined power of the dragons and the demons. Well, this was the moment of truth and our last chance to save the world. I was reminded that fused magic had been used repeatedly by either Lina or myself of late: once to fuse the vessels that blew up near Alto and Baritone, and once to break the barrier on the weapon in the Ancient Temple. Was this the way the Lord of Nightmares communicated?

"Miss Lina, you must direct all of our power, fuse it into a single attack, and launch it at Valgaav!" I told her.

"Yeah...that makes sense, since I can't seem to use that Giga Slave... Okay everybody, here's what we do...!"

And the rest, they say, is history. The plan worked; Valgaav/Darkstar was destroyed and the gate to the Overworld was sealed for all time. The serious Overworlder returned to his world with all the weapons, including, thankfully, the Sword of Light. There was one more demon-killing sword not to have to concern myself with again. The Golden Dragon took home a particularly fascinating little memento from the battle, a dragon egg containing an Ancient Dragon embryo, perhaps Val without the 'Gaav'. I would have liked to have studied that, but the Lord of Nightmares had that earmarked for the dragon lady-- even I could tell that much.

I breathed more deeply now. I was content. I had a bit of working space with which to operate. It was time for me to descend on Lina and begin...well, I wasn't certain exactly what, but I had ideas.

Alas, for a demon's work is never done. I was immediately recalled to my Lord Beastmaster. I had some explaining to do.

End part 4.


	5. Part 5

**Obsession: A Xelloss story**

From part 4...

I breathed more deeply now. I was content. I had a bit of working space with which to operate. It was time for me to descend on Lina and begin...well, I wasn't certain exactly what, but I had ideas.

Alas, for a demon's work is never done. I was immediately recalled to my Lord Beastmaster. I had some explaining to do.

**-- Part 5 –**

My Lord Beastmaster was concerned. My physical form had been undergoing inexplicable changes. I was becoming more substantial, while my spiritual body remained strong and rooted in the astral plane. It didn't make sense. I was her sole servant, empowered to function as both her general and her priest, making me the third most powerful demon in the world. And yet, I had a near-human physical form which was like a foreign entity to her.

"I am sorry. You created me..." I left off.

"Not like this," she sounded petulant.

"I am able to carry out all my assignments without significant differences in my performance."

"See that you do. What else?"

"I was looking forward to receiving your promised reward."

"_What_ promise was that?"

I reminded her that I had retrieved the Sword of Light, as ordered, although achieving my heart's desire seemed remote at best.

"I didn't command you to do that. In fact, I would have preferred that you had left it wherever Phibrizzo had concealed it."

"B-but...I was summoned and given a very direct command. I left Miss Lina as she was being absorbed by the Lord of Nightmares; you gave me no choice! And then, later, that sword was absolutely essential for containing Darkstar and closing the inter-dimensional gateway. I thought it had been a case of brilliant insight on your part!"

I felt a dark, disturbance in the aura of my Lord, while the room temperature dropped several degrees in temperature. "**I** gave no such command, Xelloss. I do not know who did, but I **will** find out."

She changed subjects with facile ease, "Now, this Darkstar, you say he was capable of destroying this world?"

I remained guarded in my answers, "Yes, many and all worlds. We stopped him, together. It is my hope to have the honor and pleasure of doing the job myself, at another time."

"That was unwise. You should have let him do it. He was as Lord Shabranigdo is to you."

"I didn't see it that way. He was impossible to communicate with, and he was an outsider that..."

She interrupted me to observe, "You didn't bring that new servant with you?"

I sighed, "No. Valgaav had absorbed the power of Lord Gaav, which made him slippery, and then it turned out that he had been originally the last of the Ancient Dragons and suffered from a bad transformation process which drove him mad. In the end, he was swallowed up by Darkstar, who had previously merged with the Volphied god."

Bingo! A thought illuminated my brain: Volphied had combined himself willingly into Darkstar resulting in a more powerful entity, very much like the merger of holy and dark magic to produce a more potent spell. _Okay...that was history and not news at all. Now, why was that so interesting? Why was I thinking about that?_ My lord's next startling conclusion broke me out of my trance.

"You killed your new servant."

"Before he ever agreed to serve me, yes...in a manner of speaking..." Nothing I had done seemed right, under the scrutiny of Lord Beastmaster.

"And you were unable to manipulate the human girl, Lina Inverse, into casting the Giga Slave?"

"Nnnnot this time. The amplifiers failed at a key moment, so she used a melding spell of Holy and Black magic to destroy Darkstar." The lie rolled off my tongue before I thought the better of it. I hoped it would slide by undetected.

"A _melding_ spell. What do you know about those?"

Now here was a topic I had some confidence in telling her about, and so I did. I told her how Lina used one in the kingdom of Alto to attempt to create a powerful weapon and in a temple to break a dragon containment barrier and of her last successful use of one to destroy Darkstar. _Darkstar...a melded creature himself... _

"Can you execute one?" she asked.

_Execute a melded creature? No, not that...a I?_ I couldn't remember ever doing so. "No, only humans can," I said, certain, "and then, only very powerful ones who can contain all that magic, like Miss Inverse."

"But _you_ did. You were the one who used the Golden Dragon's holy magic spell and one of your own in the area of a dragon temple."

That was right, but in my mind I had altered the facts so that Lina had cast it. But it _had _been me; my Lord Beastmaster told me so. _Why was my memory of the event so flawed? How was I capable of absorbing, containing, and then melding a Holy magic spell to one of my own?_ "Oh, well...that's right."

"Xelloss, my priest and general, what is going on with you?"

"I have no idea. I'm not becoming a... _human_, am I?" I wondered with a shock to my core.

"No, but something, or some_one_, has infected you. I shall scan your forms, molecule by molecule until I discover what it is," she said.

_Me? Tainted?_ I was horrified at the thought. "Please do, my master..."

**It took a very long time.**

"When did you interact with the Water Dragon King? I thought he died before your time," my Lord Beastmaster asked me.

I pondered that question for quite awhile, before recalling, "I was fleeing Lord Gaav with Lina and her companions, when a manifestation of the last thoughts of the Water Dragon King transported us all to safety."

My Lord stared at me as if I were transparent. She was trying to communicate with a part of me, but I was not hearing her. Then she smiled, "It has not gone to your head entirely."

"Pardon?"

"The Water Dragon King did you a great favor when he saved your life, and then _marked_ you, indicating that you are indebted to the dragon race. Until you are freed by one of their kind, you will continue to transform."

"Transform? Into what am I transforming?"

"A demon-dragon."

"Is that...?" I couldn't decide what to finish with. The choices were endless: good, possible, going to be a problem, likely to work, going to make me, what...?

"Yes," she nodded, probably agreeing to all the possibilities and more, "I recommend you make amends to the Gods, Xelloss," Lord Zelas said.

"But how...?"

"You are a clever demon with resources. Think of something," Lord Zelas said, and then added, "but...I shall help you."

"My master," I knelt humbly. I wondered if she would crush me under her foot and kill me before I disappointed her any further.

"I salvaged Phibrizzo's remaining astral material. Gaav's was lost to that other dimension, sadly. Consider it a gift."

"I am honored," I whispered, unable to understand the 'why'. _Mine was not to question why, mine was but to do or die—_ the old saying suited me perfectly.

"Yes, you are. The Hellmaster job is open for you, on your successful return," she smiled and looked away a moment, and then she released the most gratifying warmth of power over my being that I had ever recalled feeling.

"Come back," her voice echoed throughout my brain cavity. I had been dismissed with a command which sounded like an emotional entreaty.

"As you wish, my Lord of Chaos." I transported to my private chamber to ponder my 'possibilities', and came up with only one name, one person who might help me. "Lina..."

One thing hadn't changed and that was my particular compulsion to be with Lina Inverse. My Lord Beastmaster had not banned me from studying Miss Lina so I decided to seek her out and pick her brains a little. But then I realized that many years had passed. The world would be different, she would be different. Lina, having been touched by the Lord of Nightmares, had been given the questionable gift of near-immortality. By this time she would have realized that, but what else should I know about? In order to study up on the recent history and look up a few of her past associates, I transported inside the walls of Seyruun. It would give us some common ground with which to begin a conversation, I decided.

I concentrated on learning the fates of Lina's closest companions. The swordsman had died, as mortals do. He had remained with my Lina until his death; however, I could find no record of any marriage contract or children between them. The princess was gone. She had married a nobleman from Atlas City and left behind a slew of heirs to continue running their combined kingdoms.

The dragon woman, her foster son, and the magically enhanced shaman chimera, still lived. At one time I thought my Lina would turn to the chimera for love; they had many interests and talents in common. And although it was possible that they co-habitated after the death of the swordsman for solace, if they had, it had not lasted.

When I investigated, records showed that the chimera was married to the dragon woman and running a small tea and ceramics shop on the perimeter of Seyruun. However, when I rang at the door, no one answered; the shop was closed 'until further notice.' Valgaav-reborn, the foster son, was not in the vicinity either. I was about to ask around for his whereabouts, when a gut-wrenching tug at my astral body changed the course of my activity.

Lina called me; or rather, she located me, and using a spell, the nature of which I didn't understand at the time, managed to 'command' me to her side. I was shocked that anyone other than one of my superiors could do such a thing, and materialized in a heap on the floor of a room at an inn. I got up, folded my hands across my chest, and leaned against the wall, attempting to look unconcerned at the violation of my person.

"It's been a while, Xelloss."

"Yes it has, Miss Lina." I endeavored to remain polite.

The difference now between Lina and me was that she was pleased with her new-found power and yakking aloud in comfort, while I was positively seething inside and thinking to myself. I felt I was in conversation with her; but my end of the dialogue never got spoken. So my brilliant comments, retorts, and summaries stayed put in my cortex, where only I would appreciate their clever spins and innuendos.

She needed me to assist her in her current endeavors. We were to stay here for a few days, plan, acquire the materials we would need, and then leave. She was low on funds, however, and expected me to do something about that.

"I can pay room and board for a week," I offered generously, I thought.

"Good."

"I need to speak to you about something, important."

"Oh yeah?" she grinned smugly. "Later, then, like in the morning, okay?"

"Certainly," I said. I wished to remain on agreeable terms with her in spite of her trick on me, or maybe her cleverness made her all the more intriguing.

I'm not sure why Lina put us in one room. Since I was paying, maybe she was honoring the budget. Uncertain where this was all headed and not willing to ruin all my years of conniving with a rush to the finish, I insisted that she bathe while I undressed. I climbed into bed, pulling the covers over my head and turned my back to the door through which I could hear water running. Waiting was a natural to me, but this time with my mind filling with indelible images, each overlapping the next, of Lina naked, the waiting was killing me with expectation.

The room was only lit by moonlight, which seeped around every window blind and through every diaphanous curtain. I heard the water shut off. The faucet dripped. I counted 1860 drips before the rush of expelling water signaled the end of Lina's bath. Moments later Lina came quietly into the room. To her, the room was pitch black, but to me with demon perceptions, the room was a patchwork of shadow and light.

Lina, naked underneath, had wrapped herself in a towel and was feeling her way across the room. I was officially asleep but my eyes were unable to move from her. Standing in profile against the filmy curtain and silhouetted by the seeping moonlight, she dropped the towel, raised a shirt over her head, and slipped it on. Her body was outlined by the silvery light that edged around her and she was more voluptuous that I had imagined. I forgave myself by remembering that I was a male and she was a female and it was in my nature to watch her, even though her ease with taking off her clothes in front of me could have been founded on the thought that she did not see me as a sexual creature.

As compelling as this event was, I did not infuse it with either the tangible heat of desire or the cool distance of appreciation. For whichever approach I chose, I knew it was bound to be unrequited, and so my dominant feeling for the rest of the night was one of isolation.

Flashbacks of Lina's moonlit body presented themselves as floating pictures. Over the next few hours, I experienced emotions for which there were no names. I was unable to identify them as they passed through me.

The next morning, I was up and laying out a divine breakfast for us before she emerged from her covers.

"That smells...great!" she said with an approving sniff and crawled out of bed.

I allowed her to finish, and then I stared her down.

"Okay," she shrugged. "Sorry about the spell. I needed to get a hold of you and I'd been trying for years, then Filia drudged up this age-old, dragon-muster incantation, which I gussied up with a little black magic touch of my own. Funny that it would work on you, but I'm glad it did. Didn't hurt or anything, I hope... Didn't pull you away from anything important, did I, heh...heh...?"

I think she was seeing that her rash actions might have inconvenienced me to some point, and I appreciated her concern. "No permanent harm, but thank you for asking. On the other hand, the 'funny' part is what I have to speak to you about."

"I said I was sorry! I wasn't playing a joke or anything!"

I loved the fear flowing off of her, be it ever so slight. It was nice to know that I could raise some emotions in her heart. "You misunderstand. Let me tell you a story..."

I made it brief and without adornments.

"You are turning into a DRAGON!" she screamed.

"A Demon-Dragon. I'm not losing the demon part, just gaining, if you consider it to be a net gain, some dragon component."

"And you think Auntie Aqua did that to you?"

"Apparently I owe her for saving my life. There is an ancient contract between our races, it seems. Now I am obligated her and her kind." I picked up the last roll and buttered it, dipped it in my tea, and ate it in one gulp. I decided I could have eaten five more, if Lina had left me that many.

"How do you repay a dead God?"

"I was hoping you might have a clue," I sighed and buried my face in my hands. "I have orders to 'cleanse' myself."

Lina understood. "In that case, we still need to go talk to Filia, but for multiple reasons. Val's missing. He's _been_ missing. He was leading a normal kind of kid's life, and then the next day, he went for a walk and never returned. She's been frantic. Er...was. That was about a year ago, now she and Zelgadiss have just about given up. They're married, you know... Anyway, that's why I'd been after you, for help."

"I see...and, yes, I knew...I had located their marriage certificate in the Seyruun public records department. But from what you were saying yesterday, about your _plans_? It sounded like you were planning a long journey."

"Ah, well, Zelgadiss and Filia just moved. They are in transit to Dragon's Peak to confer with Milgasia. I don't know how long we'll be traveling after that, but I won't starve."

"Seeking _his_ help? I see. Well, it seems that our needs have aligned themselves again," I smiled. "Let's look at your list of provisions, and then visit our _friends_, then, okay?"

"Right."

After a stop for supplies, I transported us directly to his hilltop perch. In a matter of moments we were surrounded by the chimera, the dragon lady, and the clan chief, Milgasia.

Milgasia looked me over curiously, but said nothing while the dragon lady and Lina chattered together. Considering how many dragons were in the vicinity, I was not filled with my usual disgust. The chimera met my eyes once or twice while standing with a hand on his sword hilt, mistrustful as always, until Lina let the cat out of the proverbial bag.

"So we're here to launch a full scale search for Val, but first Xelloss has to placate one of your gods, or he'll turn into a dragon. Any suggestions?"

Even the stone-faced shaman became animated and exclaimed, "What?"

I would have preferred keeping the cat bagged, gagged, and drowning at the bottom of a lake somewhere to having the two Golden Dragons mock me. My pride stinging in expectation, I turned away. What they actually did humbled me.

"Oh, Xelloss..." the dragon lady sighed as she attempted to comfort me with a hand to the shoulder. "Does it hurt?"

"No, but thank you for asking, Miss."

"Filia, please call me Filia after all these years."

"Filia," I drew a deep breath to show that I could, I guess, and said, "The last apparition of the Water Dragon King saved me and the others from certain death at the hands of Lord Gaav. I now owe him a debt of gratitude, but have no clue as to what I should do."

"You must perform a selfless deed in return," Milgasia intoned, "even though it might result in your death. The race agreement would then be complete."

The chimera, who had been whispering to Lina, now looked to her for agreement, and then said, "Helping us look for our son... my adopted son, Val, might be apt. Milgasia has traced his disappearance to an anomaly in the astral plane, one that matches Dynast's signature."

"What!" I shouted. "You expect me to go up against one of my superiors and demand the return of a dragon? You...you...must be losing you mind..." Or _I_ was...

"Zelgadiss! You can say my name. I have a name," he spat. Zelgadiss looked askance at Lina. "I told you 'selfless' wasn't in his damned, demon nature. Unless it's a direct order from his boss, he won't risk his neck for anyone!"

I could feel waves of disappointment from everyone, but from Lina it pained me. "I would do it just to prove how little you actually know about the demon race, Zelgadiss, but I already promised Miss Lina that I would help her, and if this is the way, then...fine." I moved to Milgasia's side, "Show me your evidence."

What the Golden Dragon clan leader showed me was bizarre but accurate. Dynast had entered Seyruun disguised, and when Val left for home from classes, Dynast kidnapped him and left an astral 'scar' which Milgasia discovered. As I questioned Milgasia, I knew that he had no idea what Dynast's motives were or why he would want the dragon boy, and that what he had told me was the truth. I had my suspicions. Any high order demon would do well with an Ancient dragon servant, if a better transformation product could be created than Valgaav. However, how would Dynast even know about the Valgaav incident and, especially, about Val? Zelas and I were the only ones who knew of Valgaav's existence, and, as to his later whereabouts, I was pretty sure I was the only one that knew he'd hatched out as the reincarnated 'Val'. Of course, Zelas could have ready access to the information through me, unwittingly, but not Dynast. _How did he know?_

My sustained, brooding silence was making Milgasia anxious. I could feel the clan leader's sinking confidence as well as his fear combining into a strong tea-like consumable. I was drinking freely while measuring the consequences of our next most likely actions, when he interrupted the flow with an unexpected show of intimacy.

"I can detect your physical differences, Beast Master. Should we enter into battle, I wonder, can this body be harmed...permanently?" His curiosity was unmasked and something akin to reverence was apparent in the tone of his voice. "My apologies, if what I ask is too personal, but I have never known this to happen to a demon before. The Gods rarely even touch the lives of their worshipers."

"I was only vulnerable to the Sword of Light and a handful of spells from my superiors in the past, but now? I haven't tested it. _Care to try?_"

My eyes must have gleamed malevolently, because the dragon leader shrank back. I had neglected to make mention of my Hellmaster-enhanced astral signature, but he may have sensed it. It wouldn't come into play, anyway.

"Let me!" Filia suggested. "Lina can heal you if I do any damage."

"Filia, he's still a dangerous..." Zelgadiss said, moving to protect her.

"...devious demon! Yes, Zelgadiss, I am!" I finished for him. "But this is not an assault, just a test, correct Miss...Filia?"

"Of course," she sniffed. "I'll be fine. Remember, unless he wants to become half-dragon permanently, Xelloss won't harm me or Milgasia."

I hadn't thought of that. Shucks. "Anytime, then..."

Filia let loose a volley of Laser Breath attacks which bounced harmlessly off my shielding. This was getting me nowhere. I smiled toward Lina, as if to say 'save me,' closed my eyes, and then dropped my enchanted demon barrier to the spells.

"Gah!" I felt the corrosive dragon spell sizzle into my flesh. A dragon's flesh was not invulnerable to their own spells.

"Enough, already!" I heard Lina shout as I struggled with unconsciousness. "Ugh, whatta mess. This might hurt...more..."

"Let me," Milgasia said in a low voice. His holy and white magic healing powers were superior to Lina's and drew the pain off first. "You have impressed me with your bravery. Now, let's see if you are a _man_ of honor."

"Marvelous..." I gasped. Inflicting pain on my demon form had brought me pleasure and sustenance, but on this form, only blinding agony. "Miss Lina?"

"What is it Xelloss?"

"About those provisions... I'm going to need something to eat, as in food, quickly."

Milgasia, Filia, Zelgadiss, and Lina chuckled together, "Welcome to the problematic world of the other races!"

We camped that night to rest and catch up on 'old times". I now had to eat to satisfy my physical form, while my demon portion absorbed bad feelings with relish. This disturbed me. I was a mockery of all life forms. I must have sounded petulant when Zelgadiss approached me, and I told him, "It seems our roles have been reversed and I am the miserable one."

"You'll get used to it." Zelgadiss said with a warm smile. "After a few hundred years, I acquired a taste for a wide range of pleasures to suit all the parts of my composition."

That surprised me—his openness. Now that I had shown a vulnerable side, were all these 'friends' feeling kinship with me? Did this mean that perhaps Lina might as well? "New possibilities..." I said.

"Yes," Filia purred as she draped an arm around the chimera's neck and nuzzled the stony covering. "Like a sex life. Lucky for him we discovered that a dragon has skin tough enough to tolerate _any_ surface."

Zelgadiss hadn't been expecting her to say that, and he blushed past his blue-toned skin, "F-Filia..."

Lina let out a whoop and a laugh while I demonstrated more self-control than normal, in recognition of our shared manhood, and simply smiled behind a hand.

"Unfortunately, as well matched as we are," Filia continued, "it seems humans and dragons cannot produce children."

"Which doesn't matter," Zelgadiss put in quickly before anyone could offer them condolences. "We have Val and he's been our son in every way that's important."

"But that's why we've been searching so hard. We need everyone's help," the dragon lady said sorrowfully.

I watched Lina's face grow troubled. I wondered if she drew the same relevance to the dragon lady's words as I had: Lina was human and I was part dragon and so we could never produce children either-- and that was discounting the demon blood. Offspring of mixed races were improbable, but possible. Still, she and the swordsman had stayed together, despite never having any either, so maybe it was of no concern to her.

"Xelloss?" Filia asked. "What's your problem?"

I shook my head and was about to say 'it's a secret', when out-of-the-blue I asked instead, "Whatever brought you and Zelgadiss together in the first place?" setting her off-kilter.

Filia gaped at me, "What?"

_That felt better,_ I smiled in silence.

Lina filled her in on my eventful past, "He's been under the knife having his structure examined for dragon cooties for the past few centuries. He missed a few events. So tell him."

"Come on now, Lina, that wasn't all..." I wanted to correct the undignified image she'd made of me being a lay-about.

"Oh, it was so sweet," Filia began rhapsodizing on her romance with Zelgadiss. "It began over a cup of tea..."

I believe he wanted to become one with the rock he was leaning against as she told the tale of his lengthy courtship. "At least _you_ were successful," I whispered so that only he could hear me.

Zelgadiss rolled his eyes and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, but dropped the smirk when he saw that I was serious.

Milgasia changed the subject over to Lina by asking, "Forgive me if I seem impolite, but Miss Lina, when I last saw you, you were...with another gentleman, and it wasn't appropriate to ask at that time if you were married."

The swordsman. Yes, I was curious to know what had happened between my Lina and that man in my absence, and now that he was long gone I wouldn't be tempted to ring his neck. I didn't want to appear obviously inquisitive, so I pretended to be fascinated in the contents of my shoulder bag.

"Gourry," Zelgadiss said in a low voice, "died a long time ago. Amelia five years later."

"It's okay, Zel, I can talk about him. Like you said, it was a long time ago and time heals all. Well, Gourry and I traveled around for years until he just wore out. I kept curing him and fixing him and using all the healing spells I could, but after awhile he couldn't travel like that anymore. We settled in Zephillia where I still had relatives..." Lina's voice dropped as a wistful expression softened her face. "And there he died."

"But you never married," Filia stated the fact simply. "I never understood why not."

"I didn't see any reason to. I couldn't bear children, or so Amelia's best healers told me. Something about the magic I'd used. So, we didn't," Lina answered.

The subject changed to other personal reflections, which I couldn't follow because my brain was clouding over. Instead, I drifted off to sleep. I mention this only because this was a highly unusual event; demons do not sleep, ordinarily.

I awoke to the delicious aroma of frying bacon over an open fire. I was glad that dragons liked meat; it was making me salivate and it smelled wonderful.

"Xelloss, you okay?" Lina asked.

"Yes, I feel...refreshed and hungry," I told her. It wasn't so bad being honest.

I knew they wanted to wait and see if I was fully recovered. I would need to be entirely sound to carry off Val's rescue without a hitch. In any case, success or failure, we determined that the next leg of our journey would be brief. To avoid being wiped out instantaneously by Demon Lord Dynast, I developed a simple plan: cast a melding spell using the combination of shaman, black magic, and Holy magic spells. Lina would cast the first spell, using her own magic plus that of Zelgadiss and Filia. Milgasia and I would be free to search for Val. Milgasia was necessary to supply healing spells as required. If needed for a follow-up attack to Lord Dynast, then, I would summon all my power, supplemented and merged with Milgasia's. It would be a real punch out blow.

What I was less sure of was what my master would make of all this. How could she overlook my role in wiping out yet another demon lord? I didn't know why I even bothered worrying, though. If she was annoyed by me, I would know soon enough. My victory, when it happened, would be short indeed. I would have to pull off one last true miracle to ensure my future existence.

"Is something bothering you, or are you just withholding information from me?" Lina asked as we stood on dragon territory for the last time.

"Both and neither," I smiled. "There are things I cannot explain to even myself, like what will become of me once my superior hears of my...duplicity. But, don't worry about the mission, Miss Lina. If Val is there and alive still, we will succeed in releasing him."

"So...you are saying you'd rather risk death as a demon than remain alive as a dragon?" she asked.

"Not at all. I don't wish to die for any reason. It's not _that_ that has me concerned, it's the living part. Living is far more difficult and dangerous, whereas dying... that is easy."

She sniffed, unsatisfied by my nebulous answers, but how could I tell her that I only wished to live if she wanted me to?

"Ready?" she asked.

"As you will," I said automatically. In an instant the five of us were in the Temple of Demon Lord Dynast. Actually, three: Milgasia and I were hunting for Val in a nearby corridor.

"Where's my son?" Filia immediately shouted to the empty chamber.

Lord Dynast appeared. He was alone since his general and priest had succumbed to death over the years. He was in the form of a man the size of Zelgadiss, with black hair and wearing a blue suit. "You were the caretaker for the young Ancient? No longer. I shall develop him along...different lines. You had all best leave now."

"Not without our son!" Zelgadiss shouted.

"My next action will be to kill you. I give you no further warning," the Demon Lord Dynast stated as he drew in power to launch an attack.

"Yeah, right," Lina bit off. "NOW!"

I could feel the clash of colossal forces rocking the real and spiritual planes. Milgasia locked onto Val's location first and transported the two of us to a cell. I removed the locking spells to his containment with ease; they were not intended to keep me out, apparently.

Milgasia pushed into the cell ahead of me. "Young Val, this is a rescue. I'm going to check you for any serious injuries," Milgasia informed the youth as he swept over him with a glowing health charm. "My name is Milgasia. We met before when you were much younger."

"I know you," Val said to Milgasia and conceded to the check up. "I'm okay." Considering that he had been incarcerated for over a year, Val didn't seem too upset, actually. However, he hadn't noticed me hanging back in the shadows, yet.

"Nobody did nothing to me much. The demon guy wanted to turn me into another demon, but I wasn't old enough, I guess. So, he just kept me here and gave me books and took me on walks and stuff. Boring really," Val explained.

Milgasia seemed to concur with the boy's opinion as to his satisfactory health. "You are thin, but unharmed. Are you able to fight?"

"Always," the dragon-boy growled deep in his chest, then flashed a canine-rich grin at me. "I wanna kill me a demon."

"Not **me**, you stupid lizard!" I snarled in return. "I'm here to rescue you."

My anger was replaced by aching need. "Lina requires me immediately," I gasped as another concussive force impacted our worlds.

Milgasia yanked the slightly confused dragon to his feet. "Then we shall help her."

Straight away, we vanished and reappeared in the decimated temple. I had only time to notice that everyone was still standing, including our target, before Lord Dynast leveled his eyes to mine, "You! What is a son of Zelas doing here with these _creatures?_"

I needed to keep him occupied a few moments longer while the others prepared their most powerful incantations. "Coming to get what is mine, Lord Dynast. I claimed Valgaav for my own, and now I have come to take his reincarnation away."

"Nooo..."

As I felt Lord Dynast draw power again, I nodded to the others. The spells let loose in blinding flashes of energy. Both Lina and I fired our melded castings at the demon lord simultaneously.

The results were terrible to behold. **_Betrayal!_** I felt the Lord Dynast's last thoughts pass through me as I strove to absorb his astral essence into mine. **_Traitor! _**My entire body trembled with the effort. This was the miracle I had to pull off. Could I contain it? It would make quite a spectacle if I couldn't. **_Rebel throwback scum of dragon spawn!_ **Was Lord Phibrizzo's material enough to prepare my astral body for this undertaking? I didn't know; I could only try.

Filia and Val were locked in one another's arms. _How sweet_. _Was my indebtedness over?_ _I would be ever so grateful if the Water Dragon King would 'give me a sign.'_ I wanted to look around for Milgasia, however I seemed to be fixed in place.

"We must get away while we have the chance," Milgasia told the others.

"But what about Xelloss? We can't just leave him floating here. We have to take him with us!" Lina shouted.

"He is holding back all of that demon's power. Should he exhaust his strength before it has run its course, we shall all die!" Milgasia shouted.

"How do you know that?" Lina rounded on him.

"We don't know anything for sure," Zelgadiss wisely pointed out, "except this entire realm is disintegrating around us. If we don't go, we will be left floating in temporal nowhere!"

"Fine, let's go," Lina agreed. "But I'm taking him with me. I'm betting that that ole Auntie Aqua has one more trick up her sleeve."

Time had run out for further argumentation. Milgasia and Filia cast a transportation spell over the entire cluster of living beings, and we returned to Dragon's Peak.

There was a fluctuation in the air currents, and then Lord Beastmaster Zelas materialized. I was floating, immobilized. A few hours after a person or animal dies, the joints of the body stiffen and become locked in place. This stiffening is called _rigor mortis_. Was this what was happening to my body, I wondered? My eyes were trapped wide open, unblinking but seeing; my mouth was agape, but unable to speak. I could hear her voice clearly.

"I felt the death of Dynast. I taste him on you. What have you done?"

In my mind I answered, "What I had to, to save Val and the others. Lord Dynast is dead."

"You are uncomfortable?" she asked, not unmoved by my plight.

"Um, no. I can't move, however."

"You have tried to absorb more power than your astral body can handle quickly. It will wear off soon and then you will be fine."

"Thank you. I am relieved."

"You still have the dragon portion attached. You should be able to dispel that without difficulty."

"Oh? Well, good."

"You did me a service, I'd like you to know," Lord Beastmaster Zelas continued. "He had to go. With the Ancient as his servant, he would have grown too strong and he would have toppled my empire, had his plan any chance of success. It was a stupid plan of his. He must have overheard me gloating over your past attempts to recruit a part Ancient Dragon, and all the chaos you created out of that, and decided that he could go a step further and surpass us both. Crazy fool. If **Gaav** hadn't been successful in transforming the Ancient into a stable servant, and he was a far greater demon than Dynast I can tell you, then Dynast had no hope whatsoever of doing so. What a disastrous mess he would have made of the creature! Oh, and I know how much you have wanted to take a crack at transforming the Ancient yourself. But if Dynast had somehow succeeded, well..." her voice trailed on as her eyes darkened dangerously a moment.

"Of course, I couldn't _order_ you to eliminate Dynast, but I didn't stop you from doing so. I could have. I could kill you now, too, in this vulnerable state..."

_How could I forget?_ I blinked, in a virtual way. _Et tu_, Lord Zelas? You too have lost your mind in the demon race's fight for power? Alas, well, here it comes, my end...

"But I would be lonely without another demon of rank and healthy mind to socialize with. Let me know sometime in the next millennia if you plan to take the Hell Master position. Otherwise, when you awake, I am no longer your master; you are your own Lordship. Take care how you handle your new powers." She blew me a saucy kiss and vanished.

Thankfully I passed out for a short, digestive period.

Some minutes later, I came to, much to the joy of my friends. I learned from their line of questioning, that I was the only one to enjoy the company of Lord Beastmaster. Since the others had no idea of what had transpired, I didn't tell them. Well, I couldn't; I was too weak.

"Food," I gasped. "I must...have food."

"As thrilled as I am to return Val to his nest, your idea of doing a good deed for the dragon race did not pan out for my problem, it seems," I snapped off at his high-and-mighty Milgasia.

"Are you sure you want to stop the transformation?" Milgasia asked. "It was her gift, a gift from the Gods."

"Gift? _Gift,_ you say?! Becoming a freakish half-breed is a _gift?_" I gasped out. I was about to kill off my physical form and start over, rebuilding with a clean sweep. It had long been overdue for an overhaul.

"Sometimes it is, when you look at the advantages," Zelgadiss said wryly.

"Advantages?" Okay, so it worked for a human-chimera, but would it work out for me?

"Dragons have free choice to obey what their rules set out for them, or not. That is a gift to one such as you who has only tasted such freedom. If you wish to lead an independent life, you may."

That was true. And here was my chance to employ that freedom-- especially now that I no longer had a 'master' to answer to. _However..._

"Valgaav was unstable. With time, I might become a cripple," my voice cracked.

"The Gods don't work that way. Your astral form is unmarred. Your demon qualities, _such as they are,_ have not been touched."

I wondered again if the dragon clan leader sensed my growing demon astral form, and that he was making a jest about that. "It's nice to see that you've managed to keep your offbeat sense of humor though all this, Milgasia," I smiled. _Have you any idea just how powerful I have become?_

"So have you," he remarked with a raised eyebrow.

Ah yes, funny me. All this power and nothing to blow it on. My eyes traveled over to where Lina sat. My greatest question, as yet unanswered, was whether or not Lina would accept me in this new way. As a demon-dragon, would I be 'human' enough for her? _Could she fall in love with...me?_

I chanced a quick glance to my other side. Zelgadiss looked me directly in the eye, reading my thoughts. He had watched me pine away for Lina, and he had known Lina well and long. He knew what lay at the bottom of her heart where I couldn't reach. "There is a chance, _this_ way," he said.

"Thank you," I murmured, directing my eyes to the ground. That intimacy cost us both a great deal. Now, did I owe him as well?

"Just between friends," he added with a wink. That's right; friends did each other favors free of charge.

"Have you made a decision?" Milgasia asked.

"Yes. I shall execute my option to keep my present condition," I said.

Milgasia smiled a genuine smile, "I'm glad. Welcome to the realm of the Gods, Xelloss the Beast Master."

"Ah, about that title...just call me Xelloss," I smiled. I decided to tell them all about the new 'Demon-Dragon Lord' designation I had come up with, at a later date.

We traveled on foot to Seyruun, where we left Filia, Zelgadiss, and Val to recover their lives together. The silence grew long and awkward between Lina and me, leaving too many important matters unsaid.

"There's a cottage for rent outside of Seyruun. Would you like to share it with me?" I couldn't think of anything else to say, though I wanted to keep talking so I would never have to hear her answer.

"How much is it?" she asked, remarkably.

"I would pay all out monthly bills, food, and all that. You could continue your magic studies."

"Why would you do that?"

_Because I am insane. Because I am lonely. Because I love you_. "It would work for both of us," I said, actually. "I am a master of black magic and have a thousand years of memories, but no one to teach."

"Can I let you know?"

"Certainly."

"We would be sharing, right?" she asked.

She meant, _sharing and that's all_. I nodded yes, hoping no, and we got back to reality and proceeded to walk on so I could show her the little house.

Lina's move into the cottage was quickly done. "There," she announced as she tossed her few belongings onto the floor. The place filled out incrementally, a few framed photographs appeared, a rug, a few pieces of furniture. By the end of the month it looked as though a family lived there. Except.

Except that the space between me and Lina remained uncrossable. Sometimes I felt an intense love coming from her toward me, but I couldn't tell if it was because of the comforts I brought her. So, I did the only thing I knew how to do: I gave it time, and it was easy to give it time. It was my nature, being an immortal being.

But Lina wanted change. She told me so. Therefore, we traveled together, saw the sights, uncovered some mysteries, bought some souvenirs, and then we brought them home and placed them above the fireplace.

Now I wanted the change. I thought of the status of my love life, and I knew it was time. I decided to summon the full power of my charisma and unleash it on my object of obsession. But nothing came. There was no longer any irrational need to overcome; no artful deception to perform. There was no need to possess her attention every waking moment. It seemed there was no need because Lina was in full charge of herself and didn't need anything extra to determine what she thought about me.

I said, "So, is this arrangement okay with you?"

But instead of answering, she smiled, then laughed and put her hand on mine, and said, "Oh, you don't have to make conversation. I already like you."

I melted. This was so easy. I could feel whatever I wanted for her, and she accepted it, and wanted me. My unnatural obsession with Miss Lina was unnecessary now. Yes, Lina Inverse proved, instead, to be the love of my life. At that instant of realization, I pressed her against me. Her head fell back and I kissed her. Her arms dropped to her side, then after a moment of helplessness, she raised her hands and held my arms. She drew in a breath while my lips were on hers, and I think she whispered the word 'love,' but it was obscured by my mouth on hers.

Months went by and she got to the heart of me.

One night Lina and I were in bed and she asked, "You haven't been summoned to work lately, right?"

"That's true. I am my own master now."

"I meant, what about Zelas?"

I told Lina of how I had absorbed the power of other demon lords, making me one now, should I choose. "Lord Zelas will not be calling on me any more. Also, I think I have finally melded the dragon and demon sides of me to become even more powerful; the dragon portion is bursting with self-determination and the demon answers to that, and yet…"

"What?" she asked.

"I have no urge to do anything with it."

Lina smiled wryly, "You already have."

"Oh?"

She leaned over to me and whispered that she was pregnant, and I pulled her into me and we entwined ourselves and made slow and silent love without breaking our gaze to one another. "Thank you..." I whispered.

"Thank the Gods, Xelloss. I think that Auntie Aqua had a thing for you back then," she chuckled. "She gave you all kinds of special features and powers."

"Oh? Well, that's interesting. You know, I didn't think this was possible, though."

"What part of 'this' do you mean?" she asked. She was lazily drawing her fingers through my hair and alternatively kissing my face.

"The two of us creating a baby. But then, when you think about it, it's really just another of your melding spells, only this time you are blending demon, dragon, and human _cells _and making a baby, just like making an enchanted charm."

"With you, all life is magical," Lina smiled and I knew it was true for me as well. "Maybe we can teach Zelgadiss and Filia the melding spell, if we figure out its secret."

Maybe, if the Water Dragon King would allow us.

Silently thanking those who brought me here and those who had affected me, both above and below consciousness. I thought of the names, of their astounding numbers, both in the present and past, and I understood that as much as I had resisted their influences, as much as I had constricted my life, as much as I had driven my goals so as to leave closed and narrow channels leading into me, there were still many takers for the twisted demon-dragon heart, and my Lina was the most important one of all.

End part 5.

**End Obsession**


End file.
